... to keep calm.

Sunday I received a flyer in the local newspaper (yes, I still read them) announcing a sale at an online shop I used to frequent. So I decided to pay them a visit on Monday. They had a couple of lightweight jackets I was interested in, seeing as how my other spring jackets have pretty much served their purpose over the years and need to be replaced. I found two that I liked, put them in my cart and proceeded to the checkout for purchase.

Then the problems began.

I had to log in. Fine. Okay, I can't remember my password. I'll just reset it. I click on the icon and am informed they'll email me a new one (temporary). Fine. I go to my email account and it hasn't arrived. Cool. I'll just browse in another window until it arrives. An hour later, no email yet. So I go back and have them resend the password. Another hour later, no email. By this time I need to get offline to do other things, so I log out, expecting the email to be there when I go online Tuesday. Nope, still nothing.

By now my stuborness has taken over. I go back to the site and decide to order as a 'guest'. Fine. All goes well until checkout. Supposedly, there is no shipping charge for orders over $25.00. Guess what? You're right. Not only is there shipping, but tax as well. All told, it totaled an extra $7.00 per jacket.

Now, I have to decide: Is it worth the added cost? Is it worth my disappointment at having been deceived at the final cost? I take my old jackets out of the closet and look them over. They DO look fairly worn out. I decided to purchase the new jackets any way. The new ones ARE on sale, and even with the extra cost, they're cheaper than any of the stores near me.

So I order them. After I've placed my order, the next screen I see informs me that if I come up with a password, I will have an account registered for future use. I see the irony. I enter the password, then log off.

I might go back there in the near future, so I write down the password. There's no sense in going through all of that again, right?

Live and learn.

~

We tied a record here for this date as coldest overnight low since 1871!

Weather predicted to get slowly warmer as the week progresses, with a high by next Sunday of 50 degrees F.

I sincerely hope that this is the last blast of cold winter weather.

Normal tempurartures of 45 degrees would feel like a heat wave!

~

Ryan Reynolds. In a coffin. For an hour and a half. Nothing else. Couldn't hold my attention, right? Wrong! VERY good movie.


~

... makes me feel alive.

~

How do you prefer your zombies?

Slow, as they've always been in the U.S. (from George A. Romero's 'Night of the Living Dead' to the ever popular The Walking Dead)?

or

Sportingly fast (like the U.K.'s '28 Days' Later and '28 Month's Later)?

I suppose it only matters when you're confronted face to face, eh?

You know it's cold inside when just your big toe touches the floor coming out of bed and the shock immediately wakes you up, then has you quickly drawing that foot back under the covers.

!

I normally dream in color. I know that a lot of people don't, but I always have. Last night was an exception:

I was walking down a big city street at night. People were everywhere and the neon signs of the stores (and one hotel, a long diagonal sign) were flashing. Everything and everybody was in black and white, like an old 1940's movie. Everyone was dressed up 40's style, except me. I had on a hat matching the styles, but was wearing a waist cut jacket, with jeans and boots.

The odd part was that I was the only one showing any color. The jacket was a light blue, jeans a medium blue and even my boots were a dark blue. I walked along and no one seemed to notice.

A lady asked me for a light for her cigarette. I gave her a light with an old zippo lighter, she smiled, said thanks and walked on. Then I woke up, smiling.

My subconscious sometimes amazes me.

~

65 mph winds Sunday morning, dropping to 52 mph by evening. Today? a mere 13 mph.

Whew!

~

Just finished my income taxes. While a lot of people in the news are talking about less money on refunds, I'm actually supposed to get back a whole whopping $5.00 more!

Because I have been on Medicare (which I pay for) all year, maybe the IRS will leave me alone this year.

~