Things That Just Work, First Time

I bought something on Amazon in the middle of December. Eventually, I got an email from Amazon saying that USPS had tried to deliver on December 22nd, but nobody was home, so I should use the pink slip to schedule redelivery. Of course, there was no slip, and no sign of any attempt to deliver - packages are left at the security desk when no-one is home, so that was a rather lame excuse for not bothering to try. I scheduled a redelivery online, and nothing happened, so I decided to wait. It eventually showed up about a week ago. Not their best effort.

December saw a spike in package thefts off doorsteps. Friend of mine had $160 worth of photos, printed onto glass, stolen. His neighbor found the empty box.

They were just snapshots. Flowers and Alaskan fjords. Can't imagine anyone wanting them.

I'm sure. But I live in an apartment building with a security desk in the lobby, and the postman has access even when there's no doorman on duty. In my case, the parcel truck was full because it was near christmas, and the delivery guy couldn't be arsed to make another trip so he just lied about it.

Most of the time the USPS is very good; sometimes a bit of a problem. But every time I have had a problem, I call the local post office and they jump right on the problem and resolve it. Much better service than most people expect from them

I had a package shipped to me in a mailing tube that got lost when it fell between two segments of their conveyor system where it changed height. Round tubes are not the way to go; when I use them I enclose them in a free triangle shaped box from the Post Office. When I called the PO and told them it had not been delivered, the guy jumped right on it and called me back in less than an hour to let me know they had found it. The package contained a cue stick that was worth almost two grand, so it was a big relief that they found it.

Insert snarky comment [HERE] about $2000 sticks.

Why do you think a snarky comment would be appropriate?

It paid for itself a long time ago.

I only see $1900.

I counted it at the time. It's 2,000.

And that was the first time I played ten ball in competition.

It's not the stick that won.

Now that I'm trying to eat healthier I often find myself preparing fruits and vegetables and the eating experience is often improved by creative slicing.  I have a wavy-cut slicer and a juilenne dicer as well as a set of kitchen knives, but it's tedious (at best) to thin-slice cucumbers or cut veggies into 1/4" cubes for a salad.

I bought a couple of slicers and only managed to take off the end of my thumb.

Finally ran across one of these in the "As Seen On TV!" section of our local drug store.  Normally, ASOTV is a sure ticket to pure junk, but I've used this damn thing quite often in the past year and damned if it isn't the slickest thing since sliced (and diced) bread.  And no missing fingertips!

But can it make pizza?

Pizza toppings.  But that's not on my diet.

There's an ODD notice on the Walmart website where I stole the picture:

Quote :

Important Made in USA Origin Disclaimer: For certain items sold by Walmart on Walmart.com, the displayed country of origin information may not be accurate or consistent with manufacturer information. For updated, accurate country of origin data, it is recommended that you rely on product packaging or manufacturer information.

NoCoPilot wrote:

Pizza toppings.  But that's not on my diet.

There's a difference between diet and torture.

Not much.

Clear Care

I have worn contact lenses all my adult life, and used to have recurring problems with them fogging up.  Over the span of a couple weeks they'd get coated with lipids or some kind of discharge from the eyes, and require a good scrubbing.  Normal hand soap doesn't work very well for this, nor does the special "contact lens cleaning solution" you can buy.  My mother clued me in years ago, toothpaste is the only cleaner that works.  The grit in toothpaste is mild enough that it doesn't scratch the contacts, yet strong enough to remove the deposits.  You have to rinse very thoroughly afterward or your eyes end up feeling "minty fresh" which hurts like the dickens, but toothpaste works.

This is where things stood for most of my adult life.

Then a couple of years ago I ran across Clear Care.  It's a contact lens soaking solution with a percentage of hydrogen peroxide in it.  By soaking in dilute hydrogen peroxide every night, the build up never occurs.  You have to rinse the shit out of your contacts every morning because hydrogen peroxide hurts like hell in your eyes, but it's a treat not to have your vision deteriorate between cleanings.  It works, and it works well.

Our county (Snohomish) has put all public records online in searchable databases. Marriage licenses, birth & death records, building applications, and my reason for posting this, septic inspections.

We're selling (soon) our rental house and need a copy of the septic plan and install date. Go to Snoho Cty website, look up DAVE (Drainfield Awareness & Vital Education) and enter the address, boom. In two seconds we have exactly what we need.

Outstanding.

NoCo wrote:

Our county has put all public records online in searchable databases.

That's really a positive move and it should be the standard, nationwide. Christ, having to pay the state to dig up archived records, copy them, and mail them is such an anachronistic practice.

I think that is on the way to becoming the standard. Even the little county I live in has most records available on line.

DocuSign. Electronically sign documents like house selling or buying. Done it a few times now and it's damn slick. Can buy a house with a smart phone, no need to visit an office and sign in person. I suppose I should be scared of it, but so far it's been a real boon.

I would run from that. Quickly.

The convenience is hard to discount. When we sold my dad's house I was in a different country. When we accepted the offer on the rental I was in a different city from my wife, and we both read the offer and signed within 15 minutes.

Here's a "thing that works swell but it never occurred to me to try it."

I often listen to Pandora in my music room, either bluetoothed to the stereo from my iPad or bluetoothed to the stereo from my computer. If using the iPad, I can control Pandora from my easy chair where I read in front of the speakers. If I use the computer however I have to get up and walk all of six feet to start/stop/change the music.

But wait.

My Apple mouse is a wireless Bluetooth mouse. I can bring the mouse to my chair and control the computer from across the room! Why is it I never tried this before???

NoCoPilot wrote:

The convenience is hard to discount.  When we sold my dad's house I was in a different country.  When we accepted the offer on the rental I was in a different city from my wife, and we both read the offer and signed within 15 minutes.

Unless I am missing something, the electronic signature you add to a pdf document is simply a picture of your signature. That seems to me to be completely unsecure (unless you have never signed anything before). Some institutions do not accept e-signatures. A few months ago, I found myself in the middle of a large inter-bank transfer of a bunch of mortgages. Neither of the banks (one was BofA, yecch) would accept e-sigs. I had to download the signature page from the sending bank's secure server, using a one-time password. Then I printed the document, which was then signed by the controlling officer, after which I scanned it and sent it to the receiving bank. A little more hassle than DocuSign, but the documents were never on a third party's servers and were encrypted at all times during internet traffic. Seems a little safer.

NoCoPilot wrote:

My Apple mouse is a wireless Bluetooth mouse.  I can bring the mouse to my chair and control the computer from across the room!  Why is it I never tried this before???

Because you have only just discovered how lazy you are.

NoCo found a new use for his mouse, and I just found a practical use for my phone camera.

During the storms, I found a couple of windows that need to be replaced. One of them is leaking into the window in the office below, and the other has condensation between the panes. These are windows that I had installed twelve and fourteen years ago. The company, Milgard, guarantees their windows as long as I own the house. I know their guarantee is good, as I had a five-by-seven foot window replaced by them under their guarantee. Cost me nothing to replace  a window that was originally about eleven hundred bucks.

The problem is reading the order number of the windows, which is between the two panes and in an upper corner. Impossible to read from the floor, and no matter how tightly I press the side of my head against the window, I can't read the damn numbers. Had a eureka moment and took my phone and held it up there and took a few snaps. Perfect picture of the numbers. Good on you, smartphone.