Drunk Librarians

 

"If television's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up!"

~Dorothy Gambrell 

Cat And The Girl Vol.1

Okay, so later this week we will make the switch to Dish TV. We currently have Xfinity, and have been their devoted customers for over a decade, but the price for it has gotten completely out of control, especially right now, when the price of everything else is equally untenable. We are paying $275 a month for their top tier channel line-up, internet, and home security. The equipment for Xfinity Home is basic, but does alert police if something is happening, like it did several years ago when someone tried to break into our old house, not once, but twice! Also, we had to subscribe to TCM for $9.99 extra a month, rather than get it for free, because Comcast, in it's infinite wisdom, decided that not enough regular customers were watching the channel, so they boxed it with a sports and entertainment package, which I paid for, but never used. Ugh. 

But with the new change we will be saving around $150 a month, and TCM comes standard with our service from Dish. Now, to be clear, the package doesn't include Internet, I get that from T-Mobile for $30 a month, and I am planning to approach our home security differently too. Maybe bolster our Ring account with new equipment, or possibly I will look into ADT or maybe SimpliSafe. We'll see. San Joaquin County charges an additional $75 per year to have a security system that alerts the police, in the event of a break-in, or emergency, and even more if the alarm goes off, when there is no emergency! It get that false alarms can be expensive, but come one, I feel like I am being ripped off right and left! Oh well, I will  figure it out, and in the meantime, I am saving a lot of money, and getting a little more for it!

I hate the idea of a two year contract, because I am 64 years old and who the hell knows if I will even be alive in two years, but here's to making whatever future is ahead of us better! I will update later in the week about how the installation goes. I extremely dislike letting representatives into my home. Everyone thinks there is no such thing as Covid-19 anymore, and no one wants to wear a mask. How many homes will the installation professional be in, before he spends time in our home? What germs might he bring along with him?

I hate that Covid happened, but it did, and it changed my life. Sometimes I feel like a drunk librarian, with all I do to research all the happenings surrounding the Coronavirus, and the FDA Recall lists. It's hard to not feel anxiety about it all, when it has affected me the way it did. I am doing the best I can, and trying to take care of us the best ways I can.

Sigh.

NPR - August 14th, 2026

Is There A Summer Covid-19 Surge This Year?

Yep, It's Ramping Up Again

The Horror Master, Stephen King, Understands Me

"The three types of terror: the sight of a severed head tumbling down a flight of stairs, it's when the lights go out and something a green and slimy splatters against your arm. The Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it's when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. And the last and worse one: Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It's when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel it's breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there's nothing there... "

~Stephen King

What is terror? Terror is being awakened from a deep sleep, by the sound of your home security system, alerting you that an intruder has attempted entry! That happened to me yesterday, at 7:23 AM. My phone was lit up red. My alarm system was lit up red. Both were screaming, loudly, both saying someone had tried to come in through the back door, off the living room. I couldn't function. I am not sure if it was because the sound of the alarms terrified me, or if it was because I was barely dressed. Or if it was because I had no idea what the intruder wanted. Was it an attempted robbery? An attempted rape? Someone itching to commit murder? What did they want?

I will never know the answer to that question. By the time I could function, about 3 or 4 minutes, they were gone. I never got a chance to see who they were. A man? A woman? A wacky child? A ghost? A vampire? I have no idea, which makes the whole thing a lot worse, because I will play the "whatif's" the rest of my life. Or, more realistically, at least for the rest of the time I spend in this house! What if we had never installed an alarm system? What if the back door hadn't been locked? What if I had seen them? What if the fur babies had been hurt? What if? What if? What if?

It's terrifying not knowing if they spent time watching the house, waiting for Alan to leave. It's a terrifying thought that I will have to spend Thursday and Friday of this week, alone in the house. Do I sleep? Can I sleep? How do I face this fear? I guess I have no real choice. I will face Thursday and Friday, and every other day, going forward, alone. Alan can't do the work on the fear for me. That's mine. I suppose I will be okay. Alan is going to run a couple errands in the middle of the day tomorrow, which will give me a chance to be in the house alone. That will be a healthy thing for me, I think. I hope. If only I could shake the feeling from this morning...

"... It's when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel it's breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there's nothing there... ".

 What if the "nothing there" terror comes back?

Autumn Leaf Of The Day

#10 Leaf Of The Day

October 2nd 2019

Stockton, California

Nikon

~Mood: Scared

~Me

 

Technological Bermuda Triangle

"I know there is a proverb which says, 'To err is human,' 

but a human error is nothing

 compared to what a computer can do if it tries."

~Agatha Christie

Hallowe'en  Party

Okay, so, out with the AT&T Uverse, and onto the Comcast Xfinity. It was installed on Wednesday, and thefore the headache is finally over... right? Umm... NOPE. Since the Xfinity was installed it has frozen, refused to record, and for some reason I can't get the same channels in the bedroom, that I get in the living room! The Internet connection is fantastic however, I haven't had a moments problem with that! So, even if I am waiting for a service call, scheduled for later today between 2 - 4 pm, I am still ahead of the game because at least the Internet connection is working! Why do I get the idea I have moved into some kind of technological Bermuda Triangle?

Alan and I never do things like other people.

We always seem to end up in sitcom situations.

Why is that? 

And yes, I did try turning it off and turning it back on!

Leaf Of The Day

December 12th 2015

Mood: Curious

~Me :)