random thoughts – Day 2,094 (Wednesday) – sweet bologna

It was cold his morning but the remote start on the car works again thanks to the new fob, so it was all okay. Mom and I made plans to “go out.” At noon, we headed to Smith’s Country Cheese, but not the way that Waze said to go (Route 2A) and along another route Mom knew. She has always been great at navigation so I always let her co-pilot.

When we arrived, there were at least a dozen empty cars in the lot and we expected a mob in the store. There were two people, plus the worker at the cash register. We had no idea where the people were for all the other cars. Mom bought a small tub of port wine cheese and we headed back out to the world. When we stepped outside the shop maybe 20 minutes later, the parking lot was empty except for my car. So weird. As we drove around Winchendon, we puzzled over the disappearing cars and the big historic homes and how it felt like we were suddenly in a Stephen King novel.

Our other big stops for the day were Family Dollar, where I bought a 12-pack of toilet paper and a can of coffee, and Price Chopper, where I bought maraschino cherries for a cookie recipe and a can of mixed nuts.

Somewhere during the course of the afternoon, we had a conversation about Lebanon Sweet Bologna, my favorite Pennsylvania delicatessen delicacy. X2 and I used to buy it when visiting his family in Pennsylvania and they would bring it to us when visiting. We would also special order entire logs of it through the Fort Campbell Commissary, which, as I recall weighted about eight pounds, and the deli team would slice it for us. Eventually, other people special ordered it as well and the deli began stocking it so we didn’t have to buy so much of it at a time. 

When Mom and StepDad visited us in Tennessee, X2 and I introduced them to Sweet Bologna, and they stopped in Pennsylvania on the ride home to buy some. The locals were quite surprised by the couple that was buying pounds of the stuff.

Since leaving X2 and losing access to the Commissary, finding Lebanon Sweet Bologna was difficult, but I had military friends who could help a gal out. When I left Tennessee, Lebanon Sweet Bologna was nothing but a memory until I finally discovered that Market Basket in Lowell sometimes had the Seltzer brand sliced shingle pack with six or seven slices in a package for about a zillion dollars. 

Since talking about it earlier today, there is nothing I want more right now than Lebanon Sweet Bologna. Price Chopper had no such thing, but they had hard salami, which I also liked once upon a time and is another story for another time. The current quest is to find Lebanon Sweet Bologna, sliced in the perfect thickness, which I will know when I see it. Hopefully, I will find some locally and won’t be tempted to take a quick trip to Pennsylvania.

random thoughts – Day 2,093 (Tuesday) – service and oil and dance

It was cold again, but instead of hiding in the house like yesterday, things got done. There was PT and after that, I picked up Mom and we went to CVS, then the post office. I dropped her off at her house and went to the Jeep dealership. The call had come in the morning that the new fob had come in and I had a service appointment at 1:00. 

In the service lounge.

The fob and programming cost a chunk of change equivalent to my monthly car payment, but it’s a huge relief to have it fixed. No more messing around with pulling out the valet key and that is good. 

There were five of us in the customer lounge where the TV silently played a series of photos of landscapes, animals, and birds in fresh snow. Three of us were quietly reading -- I had a book, one guy was on his phone, and another lady was using a tablet. The final two customers blew in like a windstorm. They talked while they waited for someone from a car rental place to come pick them up, which is information I didn’t need know, didn’t want to know, and wouldn’t have learned if they weren’t such loud talkers. Some people have no concept of space and volume.

The woman, who was older than the rest of us,  slipped into coffee shop server mode and asked her similarly aged companion what he wanted for a hot beverage, and even though he said “decaf” right away, she still chose to read aloud the labels on all the Keurig cups. She made cups of whatever and narrated every step (taking the cup, adding the K-cup, looking for sugar and creamer). Then they sat at a small table and talked in stadium level voices which were intruding in the sentences I was trying to read. I even whispered a couple times “Shut. Up.”, knowing they would never hear it but it made feel like I tried and maybe the Universe would help. It was a very long ten minutes until the car rental guy appeared like an angel from heaven to deliver the rest of us from our punishment.

Later in the afternoon, as I sat on the couch going though the mail, the oil truck for the company Mom and I both use was at Mom’s house and I realized I hadn’t checked the level in my tank for a week or so. Luckily, even though I hadn’t called to order oil, the guy came to my house and topped off the tank. The learning about the house period continues and the day’s knowledge is that today’s bill plus the one from October equal the total year’s natural gas expense at the house in Lowell in 2024. Ugh.

Move the chairs, then dance.

Dance group was fun, but I overdressed. There had been a comment in the group chat that the meeting place might be cold, so I kept on the turtleneck from earlier today and added a velour hoodie with the fleece pants. It turned out, however, that it was not cold in the dance place. It was hot. The place was set up with chairs from a meeting or event that we needed to move out of the way, which was a great warm-up to the dancing. Usually, we just need to move a couple long tables.

random thoughts – Day 2,092 (Monday) – cold and time

The light and loose plan for the day was to go to the post office for some stamps and mail the Christmas cards. It looked cold out and the car fob is being difficult, which added up to staying in the house all day, on purpose. Mostly all day. I stepped out twice. Once to drag the trash and recycle bins to the curb, the second time to take them back up to the house. The “looking cold” aspect of the day was accurate. It was cold. And I was tired, having slept poorly and waking at 2:55 a.m. and not sleeping much after that. The cold was the perfect cover for doing next to nothing (not that I ever really need one). 

Cold days are great for using the oven, which might be why the electric bill that came a week or two ago was high compared to the month before. After flirting with the idea of beginning the holiday baking, today’s oven usage was instead designated for roasting a baking sheet of broccoli, carrots, and onion. The thinking was to eat a little for supper and save the rest to enhance a meal tomorrow, but the first little plate was good so there was a second and then a third, and after that it was gone. Those crispy, charred bits of broccoli are irresistible.

There was a small amount of work done in the guest room in an effort to empty a box that was in the middle of the floor, whish is easier than it sounds and also why it has sat there untouched for months. It held (and still holds) journals. I have been conducting brain dumps in spiral bound and hard bound books since I was in college. In addition to the diary type books, there is a stack of desk calendar/day planner books. I’m not entirely sure why I kept all this stuff, but at least once when I was a kid I thought I’d be famous when I “got older” and then my biographer would find the minutia of my days fascinating details of my daily life. So far, there is no whisper of remarkable achievements and fame, but I wrote that off years ago anyway. Sometimes, though, I flip through the old planners and find the records of my olden days mildly interesting when I can actually understand my own project shorthand. 

When I worked at an agency, we tracked client project time in six minute (tenth-of-an-hour) increments and I logged my time spent on client work in the desk planner as it happened to make it easier to log it all on the time sheets later. Some of it looks like gibberish now.

Once I get done amusing myself with skim reading days, weeks, and months of fascinating entries like time off for trips I don't recall taking and client entries for things like “SHB web copy - 10” KB- SHB Icon ads - 10,” “memo - web edits - 20,” and “Storm – servers out,” I can figure out what on earth to do with 20-some odd years of yearly planner books. Exciting stuff.

random thoughts – Day 2,091 (Sunday) – dancing and shopping

Dance troupe season 2025 is finished, after our performance at a benefit for Home for Little Wanderers at the Middle East in Cambridge. The day was fun. The other dancers in the show were amazing, and the costumes were all impressive. So much beading! Gorgeous colors! Veils, fan veils, and zills! Our troupe had seven dancers today and we adapted to the smallest space we’ve ever performed in. If there had been all nine of us, it would really have been a spectacle.

Turkey wants in.

Three of us carpooled. The traffic didn’t seem too bad, but I wasn’t driving so that might be inaccurate. At a red light near Boston University we saw a turkey walking on a patch of grass, and then it started following a woman as if to try and enter a building marked “Administrative Offices.” She managed to slip in and shut the door behind her to keep the turkey out, and it stayed there looking through the glass. Or maybe it was admiring its reflection in the glass. Who knows. It was amusing either way.

We arrived at the performance site early enough to walk around and grab some lunch before we had to check in. The energy on Mass Ave was invigorating. There were lots of people on the sidewalks including many sporting runners bibs and many restaurants were crowded but we found one with open seats. My lunch/late breakfast of scrambled eggs and coffee was energizing. Restaurant scrambled eggs are almost always better than what I make at home and I don’t have to deal with eggs stuck on a pan. Spending casual time walking with two dance sisters was good for my soul.

After the show we visited Goodwill, conveniently located on the way back to the garage. I found a light blue and gold lace patterned dressy turtleneck top (if there is such a thing as a dressy turtleneck) that I don’t know what I’ll wear with, but also knew I might regret not buying. 

Dance and street shoes crammed in a shop.

A few doors down the street, my eye was caught by a window full of shoes including those worn for ballroom and salsa, and sky-high platform stripper shoes, and when I spotted the jazz flats and pointe shoes and we saw some costumes it registered it was a dancewear shop. The small shop was crammed with everything dance – and we’re talking all kinds of dance, including a couple dresses perfect for some styles of belly dance. What a find.

This was our busiest performance year with appearances at events new to us including some in New Hampshire and the Natick Dance Showcase. Now we will relax for a few weeks before beginning rehearsals in January for a performance in February.

I won’t have much time to collect any rust though. There are a couple weeks still left in the Tuesday night dance group classes where we are working on some fun dances. The coming year looks like it will be another good one for dancing.

random thoughts – Day 2,090 (Saturday) – technology

It was another morning with snow flying and creating a pretty scene outside the window while I drank coffee. The ground became coated, but it wasn’t anything that seemed to need shoveling and most of us on the street didn’t. The snow stopped, the sun came out, and the streets were eventually just wet.

An errand required a trip out of the house. The persnickety key fob, which was looked at and tested by the dude in the Jeep service department on Friday, is worse than before. The guy was going to pull the new battery he had tried in it so I didn’t have to pay the $10 sales price, but I think he neglected to put the old, semi-functional one back in because things are all kinds of nutty now.

Before the tech touched it, having the fob near the door handle would unlock the door, avoiding the need to fumble with fob buttons or juggle packages and bags. Now, I have to extract the metal key from the fob and insert it into the lock to open the door. To start the car, I have to touch the fob to the start button, then depress the brake and push the start button. 

Excuse me, the key fob is right here.

If the door is opened after the car is started, the dashboard displays the message, “Key fob has left the vehicle” like it’s Elvis exiting the building or something. But no, dear technology demon overlord, the fob and I are still right here in the car, and dear fobby appears to not be speaking to you at present. Hopefully the new fob will arrive on Tuesday, everyone and thing will be on speaking terms again, and this will be nothing but a memory by Wednesday.

This nonsense with unlocking and starting the car, constant dashboard messaging, the navigation system that frequently glitches out when I need it most, and the expense of fixing the many things expertly engineered to break on a profit-enhancing corporate schedule makes me really hate technology, in cars and elsewhere. I miss the pre-computerized cars that didn’t need a $300 key fob. I don’t need my appliances to communicate with each other or tell me I need milk. 

random thoughts – Day 2,089 (Friday) – tires and fob

The day dawned with a plan. A drive to Chelmsford was needed for a 9:30 routine annual medical thing. This was a change from the plan set 24 hours previously which was for me to sleep as long as I wanted and then sit around drinking coffee and applying for jobs, but it was favorable in that it avoided me having to get up at oh-dark-thirty next Wednesday to get to Lowell for the thing. After that, Mom and I could go to Fitchburg for a couple errands, which was the original plan set a day earlier.

I called Mom before I left to let her know it would be about 11:00 when we could begin our errand. Being a very cold morning, the remote start button on the fob was tapped twice to give the car a head start warming up. This, along with the heated seat and steering wheel, are possibly my favorite features, especially since the roof panels chose to become problematic and now whistle when driving at 50 mph or higher. It didn’t work. I ended up starting the car the old-school way – while shivering inside it. Once running, the car declared it was nine degrees, but the accuracy of that is questionable.

After backing out of the driveway and turning down the street, my nemesis the dashboard informed me that all four tires were experiencing low tire pressure. I returned to the comfort of my carport to inflate the tires with my recently bought inflater thing, starting with the one with the lowest pressure (28 psi). It sounded like the air was coming out as I fought to attach the gizmo to the tire valve, then the unit danced around the asphalt while it allegedly added air. It was extra hard to pull the gizmo off the tire valve. Despite the effort, the results on the dashboard were not greatly improved. I took a calculated risk, said “to hell with it,” and drove to Chelmsford. The tire pressure increased with the travel, but not by much.

The fob has been increasingly cranky, and in the past couple weeks, it randomly wouldn’t lock or unlock the doors or remote start the car. It was possible it was the battery, which hadn’t been replaced in June with the annual car inspection because I went to the local garage for the sticker instead of the dealership for an oil change, battery replacement, and inspection sticker. At least the doors still unlocked when the fob was near the handle so it wasn’t totally a lost cause.

Back at home, Mom’s plans had changed and the errands were cancelled. The snow angel neighbor knocked on the door to say he saw me freezing my ass off earlier (his words) and that he had a compressor and tire gauge and offered to help after he had lunch. We exchanged phone numbers and later he texted to say he could address my low psi.

During the tire inflation, the dashboard claimed the tires were still low even when the compressor gauge indicated they were at 35 psi. The compressor setting had to be bumped up to 40 psi for the car’s dashboard to hit 35. Talk about annoying dashboard technology. He joked the bill would be in the mail and I joked I would pay it in cookies and now it looks like I'll be baking for the snow angel/ tire inflater across the street which seems like the start of a Hallmark movie.

After the tire inflation, during which we whined about expensive and complicated automobile technology, the Jeep dealership was visited to have the fob checked. The car came with only one fob, which I didn’t learn until delivery and I have guarded it like it was the key to salvation ever since. The fob has a physical key inside, accessed by fighting a very tiny slider which was clearly not designed or tested by anyone who ever paid good money for a manicure. It required some swearing, but I got the key out of the fob to lock the door before going into the dealership service center. 

Problem fob and key.

The battery was changed. The fob was tested. There was no improvement. A new fob was ordered ($280 plus programming fee) and should be in on Tuesday. This seemed a lot easier than when I bought the Jeep and the salesman acted like it required an act of the gods to get another fob, promised to do so anyway and then didn’t, reinforcing every stereotype and negative impression I’ve ever had of car salespeople. 

Fun note – since the service guy opened up the fob and replaced the battery, it’s worse. It used to unlock from a short distance sometimes and always opened the door when the fob was near the handle, but now the key is required at all times to be inserted into the keyhole to open the door. This wouldn’t be bad if it wasn’t such a pain in the arse to remove, and once out of the fob, the key is a free agent and could be easily dropped. Yay. I look forward to crawling under the car to reach for the dropped key.

The day wasn't total frustration. The third time was the charm and after previous calls that never went much further than the AI bot assistant, I finally connected with a human representative at the the company that holds the Bank's 401k plan. Due to the merger, the plan is being dissolved and I needed to move my account somewhere. It was a relief to have that done with.

random thoughts – Day 2,088 (Thursday) – health and progress

The physical therapy is nearly done with good progress and one week left to go. Today, a patient arrived in a Santa onesie. During one of his exercises, he said it was a good thing no children were present to see the therapist torturing Santa and then he added her to the naughty list. My therapist and I chuckled over at our station.

Black tinsel tree.

Another healthcare related appointment that was scheduled a year ago was coming up next Wednesday. In Lowell. At 6:45. In the morning. This was great for the many years when I lived five minutes away from the appointment site. I would go before work and be at my desk right on time like it was any other work day. Driving to Lowell from Gardner for a 6:45 a.m. appointment is an entirely different story. I would have done it if there was nothing available at a later time, but I got lucky when I called to ask. There was an opening tomorrow in their Chelmsford location at 9:30 a.m.

Christmas Eve will be at my house this year, which was decided this morning in a conversation with Mom. It is the perfect inspiration get my arse in gear and finish decorating for Christmas and working on the guest room. A string of battery-operated lights was bought for the black tinsel tree and it was decorated with silver and crystal ornaments and a garland of tiny plastic icicles. 

Hoodie with
special  powers?

Also bought today was a plain black super soft hoodie, and a Christmas hoodie printed with rows of candy canes, snowflakes, trees, paw prints alternating with hearts, and Black kitties in Santa hats. I have never been one to buy Christmas attire, but for $5 I couldn’t resist the cozy hoodie and changed into it as soon as I got home. It may have helped with the decorating, but it’s hard to tell. Over the next few weeks, further tests will be conducted on the motivational properties of the Christmas hoodie.

The guest room activity required emptying a deep bookcase to move it to the other side of the room where it won’t interfere with the trundle daybed should it ever need to be used. A smaller bookcase was placed in the spot where the other one had been and both were filled with books, which cleared some of the clutter from the room. Two shelves were stacked under the window between the bookcases for no particular reason other than clearing them from the so-called craft room. More progress!