The Microwave

Our new house has a microwave / convection oven built in over the range, so the small counter top one we have here would probably not be used very much there. Unfortunately, it recently stopped working and since it is handy for a lot of things, we reluctantly decided that we should get another one. You would think that buying a microwave would be a simple thing. Maybe it is for most people, but not for us. I found one on line at Target that was reasonably priced and looked nice. Since Walmart in Old Bridge is closer than Target in Middletown, Anne though that we should look there. She found one on line that she liked and the site said that it was in stock at the store. We got to the store and the first thing I noticed was the large number of people standing in line for customer service. The second thing I noticed was that the microwave was nowhere to be found. A lady employee, who was very pleasant, but ineffective, said that she bet she knew where we got the idea that it was in stock - from the internet and cautioned us not to believe such things. She didn't work in microwaves so tried to conjure up someone who knew about them by speaking into a little box. After several attempts without success she wandered off. We wandered to Home Depot and Lowes where it was difficult to pair the boxes with the actual microwaves with the prices tags on the shelves. By the way, as we left Walmart, the customer service line was now about half of what it was when we went in. We continued to drive south on Route 9 until we were at the Target in Manalapan where we found the one I had first mentioned. It is a little smaller than what Anne wanted, but we got it. We can now microwave things again. Yippee.

Ramblings on a September Evening

Once again, I have been admonished because I have been derelict in my blog postings. It would be nice if the complainers would themselves post something, or even get a blog, but no, I alone am admonished as though I were the blogger in residence or blogger laureate, expected to provide new and scintillating material for the enjoyment of my readers. Very well, here goes, but remember, I am not Noel Coward (thank God) or John Wayne, or anyone of serious note and nothing much that's exciting happens to me. I suppose that's a good thing for me for the most part, but it makes it difficult to get enthused to write about the normal hum drum of daily life, but I will try.

On Friday I visited my old place of employment because I had a luncheon with Mr. Michael K. I enjoyed my lunch and our conversation, but my real love is seeing the ladies of ETA, my former co-workers. I do miss them. Having said that, I want to assure my readers and myself that I don't miss work and that retirement suits me just fine, thank you very much. Most of my working career I have worked primarily with women and have had mostly women bosses, when I have had a boss. Maybe that gives me a different perspective on things. I have liked almost all of the women with whom I have worked and still keep in touch with some of them through the wonder of Facebook. Maybe I fancy myself as a modern day Gardner McKay sailing to Tahiti with an all girl crew. Hah! What did I have to drink today? Anybody want to go on a sailboat ride?

So, last evening Anne and I went to Best Buy to look at televisions. We need to get one or two eventually for our new home. We have been putting off buying HD TVs in anticipation of our move, so we thought we ought to go look at them and see what we could learn. At first we were struck by the similarity in the pictures between the 720 p and the 1080p sets until we found out that the signal that they get in the store for all sets is 720p. Well, gee whiz, how the heck are you supposed to make a decision on that basis? Even at that, all the pictures looked pretty good. Then there's the thing about smart TVs and do you want Google TV, Netflix, Hulu, Pandora and what do all of these things do and who cares. What about 3D? Everybody wants you to pay money to watch or listen to entertainment today. We didn't buy anything, just looked. I need to find a sixteen year old to explain it all to me before we buy anything.

Tomorrow is my father's birthday. He would have been 105, but he died in 1987. We went to the cemetary this afternoon, because I got confused and though his birthday was today. The cemetery isn't being kept up very well, which is disconcerting. The headstone seems to be leaning a little also. I don't know what I can do about either thing. I guess and hope it doesn't matter to my parents. If it does, we all have a lot more trouble than we realize.

Peter is finally in Mexico. Last week they finally got shipments of all of their goods, all on the same day and found themselves somewhat overwhelmed. They don't know where they will put it all because their house is not quite as large as previous ones. Peter's delay in getting there had to do with the government's language school and their insistence that he achieve a high level of fluency in Spanish. Since he's been there he said that he hardly has to speak any Spanish except if he goes to a grocery store.

I know that there were other things that I was thinking of adding to this post, but I don't remember what they were. I believe that will allow me to write another post when I remember them and if I remember that I am supposed to blog about them. So, good reader, you will have to be content with this content for the time being.