Passwords, Email and Icons... Oh My!

It's been one of those days! You know, where you sit at your laptop going crazy?

It all started with aol. Back in the days when I was a brand new computer user, I signed up with aol to start an email account. I used aol for several years then suddenly my account froze up. It wouldn't recognize me anymore, and I was no longer able to sign on. Oh yes, I investigated. I went on many aol sites and tried calling a lot of phone numbers and talked to a lot of machines. I even visited the Genius Bar at the Apple store... even they couldn't figure it out! So I gave up and opened a gmail acccount and everything has been fine since. As far as I know, though, the aol account is still out there somewhere in the ether, and unread messages are piling up in some unknown place.

Gmail is working fine. The only problem is, I had already used my aol address to set up my Blogger account, my eBay account and my PayPal account. I figured it might cause some problems somewhere along the line, but I would cross that bridge when I came to it. Well, this morning, I had to cross that bridge. I decided to start selling stuff on eBay. I had to re-enter my user ID and my password... then my email address!! Could I still use my aol address? I didn't think so. What if someone had to reach me about an item? Maybe I couldn't get paid without a working email address. That meant I had to change my email address with both eBay and PayPal!

I figured out how to change my email address on eBay. But then, eBay would not let me sign on to my account. I called several phone numbers and talked to several machines. FINALLY I got to a young lady on the phone. She helped me straighten it all out. I had to empty my cache and erase all my cookies. Then I had to change my email address on PayPal.

But I still haven't figured out how to change my email address on Blogger. I think I will leave that for another day. So, if some day when I go silent, you will know that my old email address has finally done me in!

Whew! I wonder if anyone has read this far... sorry for rambling.

Snow Kitties

We have a lot of snow on the ground here, and we are getting more. The little black kitty statues are next to my front porch. They are perched on top of stakes, and are normally about a foot off the ground. Now, they are just running along the top of the snow.

The photo below is our back deck, with the dishes we use to feed the outdoor, feral kitties. On the far right, you can see the red dish we usually use, which is now buried under snow. We just set the other dishes on top of the snow so the kitties can get to them. You can see their paw prints all around. My husband just shoveled this deck off late yesterday, and all this snow has fallen since then! I wish I could get a photo of the kitties in back, but when I open the door they run!

Happy Valentine's Day

Photo courtesy of littleshamrocks.com

I HATE My Iphone!

It's a demon! It's driving me crazy! Three weeks ago it froze up. I went online and found suggested ways to reboot it restart it, unfreeze it, etc., etc., etc. None of them worked. So, I made an appointment to visit the nearest Genius Bar, which is a 45 minute drive away up a busy interstate. The genius informed me she had to erase all the memory from my iphone then replace it all again. It was a long process, but it worked.

Now it's frozen again! But it's frozen in a different way. Instead of a blank screen, all the icons are scrambled all over the screen and none of them will work. I just spent an hour trying suggested fixes. It involves signing on to itunes and syncing everything. I got numerous messages. It wanted to import photos, which took 20 minutes. Then it wanted to download new itunes software, so I did that. The iphone said it was syncing, but nothing changed. Then my laptop began all the same messages over again. Once again, it wanted to import photos and download new itunes software. It just kept going around in continuous loops, with nothing changing on the iphone.

I have another appointment at the Genius Bar tomorrow. I hope they don't have to erase the entire memory again and start over. This is getting to be a huge pain, and in the meantime I have no phone. There has GOT to be a better way!

p.s. It isn't just me, either. Go to Google and type in "my iphone is frozen" and look at all the users who have this problem... it's universal!

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Update: I called AT&T today to ask a question about my account. I happened to mention to her that my iphone wasn't working. She stayed on the phone with me for an hour, trying to resolve my problem with the iphone. Finally, she put me on hold while she called the Apple iphone help line, then she relayed to me what they said to try. I tried it and it fixed my iphone! So, I wanted to put in a good word for the AT&T person who solved my problem... I didn't even know AT&T would do that! Now I don't have to go up to the Apple store after all.

Do Cats Grow On Trees Here?

Kinda looks like it, doesn't it?


In the meantime, inside the house... how are Tiger and the new kitten Munchkin getting along? Well... they have their moments!

Unqualified!

I didn't want to get political. I said I wouldn't get political. But I have to get this off my chest. I used to cringe when I had to listen to George Bush. Now I cringe when I have to listen to her. We just got rid of one demagogue; now we have another one. She is snarky and she plays fast and loose with the truth. She is corny, with those "cutesy" mannerisms. She isn't very smart; it was obvious when she was looking at her hand the other night when speaking. It was obvious when she had the "deer in the headlights" look when Charlie Gibson asked her about the Bush doctrine.

Many people like her. Many people admire her. I just can't understand that.

Update: I just read this morning that a new poll indicates that 71% of Americans think she is unqualified to be President. Maybe there is still hope for the American people... but about the other 29%, what are they thinking? (My own mom is one of the 29% who like her. I don't understand my own mom; maybe it's a generational thing.)

SNOW!!

It's cold. It's wet. And it's everywhere! I need another vacation!

I went to the store this morning (4-wheel drive) and stocked up on food. I am ready to hibernate until it all goes away!