Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, the new phone I bought and plugged in last night won't let me dial out. Oh, I can get a dial tone and I can hear it dialing but then nothing happens.

I hate telephones right now.

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Since both phones aren't working, it's hard to believe quality control is THAT bad. What both phones have in common is the phone jack (connector in the wall where you plug in). Sometimes all it takes is to plug the phone in and unplug it a few times to wear off any oxidation/corrosion that might have built up. Try that with both the old phone (since it was working before) and the new phone.

Try that first and see what happens.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
My neighbor is awesome. I called him up this morning and let him knew that I had the boards ready and he told me to come on over. Instead of trying to find the perfect bit to get the perfect match, he kept my drawer overnight and figured out a 2-step process to get it done with the bits he had. He used a roundover bit freehand after clamping the pieces down, then he set up his router on his table and made a jig for another bit that didn't have a guide to get the "scoop" out in leiu of a cove bit. He even busted out his sander and sanded them all down for me too.

They're PERFECT.



So I primed both sides and put 3 coats of my white paint on them before the day was over.

In between that I installed the main toe kick under the sink, fabricated the 3 other pieces I'd need from hardboard and primed and painted them 3 times, then got them installed.

Even managed to mow the back yard too.


Just got to let the faces cure for a few days because I think I'm going to glue them to the fronts of the boxes where they're sitting in the cabinets and then clamp them. I have to make sure that they're perfect, and using clamps will give me a lot more wiggle room than finalizing the job with brad nails right away. It may take me a few times unless I can come up with a surefire way to do it, so I think I'm only going to use a sparing amount of glue first in case I want to take it off and try again and only when I'm happy with them will I nail them in, use a little wood putty to cover that and paint the faces one more time.

Then I finally get to install all my drawer pulls that I bought years ago when I bought all the invisible/soft-close hinges.



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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Got a pick up game of mah jong in as I ran into one of the mah jong group. I won today. Each round with really good scores too.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Wow, that sounds GREAT! I'll bet you're happy to see that getting finished!

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Got a pick up game of mah jong in as I ran into one of the mah jong group. I won today. Each round with really good scores too.

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Well, congrats, BRENDA!


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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Over at this end ...

My sinus saga continues. If you can imagine, I've had a sinus infection for five months. And my nose swells up so badly I can't breathe thru it. I do my best to clear it up before I go to bed (rinse, decongest, re-rinse with budenoside steroid and repsray with fluticasone, decongestant, and cromolyn) but it doesn't stay open for more than 5 hours. Consequently, I wake up and am running super short of sleep.

I have a puzzling infection with a witch's brew of gram negative bacteria. I can't imagine how I could have been so throughly exposed to such a wide range of pathogens except posssibly one of bottles of distilled water that I've been using to rinse my nose was contaminated or mislabelled. Anyway TWO written messages and one voicemail later, the PA finaly got back in touch. Because I have a bad reaction in the past to one class of antibiotics (fluoroquinolones) that WOULD work, and I already tried the other antibiotic that MIGHT work (Bactrim) - but didn't - we decided to try two different antibiotics compounded as a nasal rinse. I'm still seeing my ENT mid-month and an allergist/immunologist a week after. My hope is that the ENT sticks a couple more stents in my sinus passages so I can get rinse solution IN my sinuses (currently swollen shut) and that the other doctor can Rx Dupixent, which is (yet another) immune modifier to keep my immune system from misbehaving.

Anyway, despite that and the birthdays to manage and all of the house chores and doctors' appointments... I have managed to get the front berm and swale shaped and covered with weed barrier, and at some point in the future ... when I've allayed dear daughter's anxieties about getting Thanksgiving cards out in tiem, and done a few other things... I'll get to cover it with mulch.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Back and in. Manager at the phone store called the repair line and let me use the store phone to speak to them. Technician is coming on Thursday afternoon.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Over at this end ...

My sinus saga continues. If you can imagine, I've had a sinus infection for five months. And my nose swells up so badly I can't breathe thru it. I do my best to clear it up before I go to bed (rinse, decongest, re-rinse with budenoside steroid and repsray with fluticasone, decongestant, and cromolyn) but it doesn't stay open for more than 5 hours. Consequently, I wake up and am running super short of sleep.

I have a puzzling infection with a witch's brew of gram negative bacteria. I can't imagine how I could have been so throughly exposed to such a wide range of pathogens except posssibly one of bottles of distilled water that I've been using to rinse my nose was contaminated or mislabelled. Anyway TWO written messages and one voicemail later, the PA finaly got back in touch. Because I have a bad reaction in the past to one class of antibiotics (fluoroquinolones) that WOULD work, and I already tried the other antibiotic that MIGHT work (Bactrim) - but didn't - we decided to try two different antibiotics compounded as a nasal rinse. I'm still seeing my ENT mid-month and an allergist/immunologist a week after. My hope is that the ENT sticks a couple more stents in my sinus passages so I can get rinse solution IN my sinuses (currently swollen shut) and that the other doctor can Rx Dupixent, which is (yet another) immune modifier to keep my immune system from misbehaving.

Anyway, despite that and the birthdays to manage and all of the house chores and doctors' appointments... I have managed to get the front berm and swale shaped and covered with weed barrier, and at some point in the future ... when I've allayed dear daughter's anxieties about getting Thanksgiving cards out in tiem, and done a few other things... I'll get to cover it with mulch.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Back and in. Manager at the phone store called the repair line and let me use the store phone to speak to them. Technician is coming on Thursday afternoon.

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Glad you're getting somebody to come out, Brenda.

I couldn't give you any advice. I know absolutely nothing about phone lines.

Not only haven't I had a home phone line since my first apartment back in the late 90's, but until I was working on remodeling my living room a few years ago I wasn't even aware that I don't even have phone service hooked up to my house! lol

I lived here like 9 or 10 years without even knowing that. There's phone jacks all over the place. The two in the living room didn't have plates, so it just had phone wire looped at the end and hanging out of the wall. I bought the proper plates to mount them that matched with the decorative plates I use for all my outlets and flapper switches and when I hooked them all up I tested out the phone and there was no dial tone. I've got a Network box in my basement that ties all the phone and coxial cable lines in the house together, so I went down there to see if I could figure out what went wrong and that was when I realized that even though they're all hooked up right, there's no actual line coming into my house from the outside.



So I guess that will be the next owner's problem if they want a land line. I dunno. I might call up the phone company and see if connecting service to a house is free one day. I'm certainly not going to be paying anybody to install phone service though when I've managed over 12 years without it.

--------------------------------------------------

Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Back and in. Manager at the phone store called the repair line and let me use the store phone to speak to them. Technician is coming on Thursday afternoon.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Have you noticed more difficulty reaching a human being in other situations in Canada recently, Brenda?

It got bad around here during Covid lockdowns, but I find it almost impossible to reach a human being almost anywhere these days, including the hospitals without having to call back 6 different times and try different options in the menus.

Customer service is just about dead in America.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

No more. Copper lines couldn't carry much signal. Everything's fiberoptic and digitized, even your landline. So when OUR power goes out, so does our modem, and our landline goes with it. So how do we report a power outage? Or if our landline/ internet provider goes out, how do we call it in? And if our cell provider goes out - same question. It's an added expense, but we've found it very useful to have both wired and cell service. That, and we keep in touch via cell when one of us is out and about. Good for on- the go emergencies too.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Back and in. Manager at the phone store called the repair line and let me use the store phone to speak to them. Technician is coming on Thursday afternoon.

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Thats the problem with phone problems; when you have a problem, how can you call anyone about it?

Over here, we have two phone services from two different providers - a landline and a mobile, and they go by entirely different routes. Our landline goes thru our modem to a fiberoptic cable, and our cell phone goes wireless to a cell tower (and from there ultimately to different fiberoptic system.)

It used to be that landlines were all copper- based, and the great thing about them was the phone compnay would actually provide its own power, so the copper lines not only carried a signal, they actually provided power to your phone. That way, if your main power went out your phone would usually still work.


No more. Copper lines couldn't carry much signal. Everything's fiberoptic and digitized, even your landline. So when OUR power goes out, so does our modem, and our landline goes with it. So how do we report a power outage? Or if our landline/ internet provider goes out, how do we call it in? And if our cell provider goes out - same question. It's an added expense, but we've found it very useful to have both wired and cell service. That, and we keep in touch via cell when one of us is out and about. Good for on- the go emergencies too.

If you can find a low- cost basic cell and service, BRENDA, you might find it handy.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Have you noticed more difficulty reaching a human being in other situations in Canada recently, Brenda?

It got bad around here during Covid lockdowns, but I find it almost impossible to reach a human being almost anywhere these days, including the hospitals without having to call back 6 different times and try different options in the menus.

Customer service is just about dead in America.

--------------------------------------------------

Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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No kidding!!!

And the effing menus are inscrutable. There used to be a secret menu with most automzted syxtems that if you hit "0" you`d get operator. No more!! Now if you try it go get "we do not recognize that instruction"

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Oh. They know we're all on to that trick now.

My pharmacy's menu even does the best it can to make sure you don't talk to a live person. I know the exact phrase they're looking for, but it takes 3 menus to even get there. Now I know I keep hearing about how pharmacies have been laying off staff and they're short staffed, but every time I've walked in there there is 1 pharmacy and at least 5 techs if not 7. Half of them just seem to be standing around at any given time, and if you try to pick up anything between 1:30 and 2:00PM the entire pharmacy is closed for lunch.

Quote:

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The absolute worst is UPS. You should try it some time: they have a wonderful endless loop of a menu that takes absolute genius to break. Amazon is another one: you CAN reach a real person, but finding their phone number is almost impossible.

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Oh, I've had the UPS problem before. They got what they wanted out of me, which was to sign away my rights in order for them to leave the package if I don't answer the door. I've missed package deliverers while I was even home before. I don't have a doorbell, so if somebody comes up and just lightly wraps on the door and leaves I won't hear them. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to stand at my front door like a puppy dog for a 4 hour window they might not even honor waiting for a package.

Their phone service was bad even before Covid.

As cheap as I am, I've decided just to have them ship the extremely few packages I ever have delivered through them to the local Auto Zone and I pick them up there. It's a few bucks more to do that, but after the crazy hoops I had to jump through to pick up a package at one of their distribution centers I'm never going to go through that again.


I don't usually have to call Amazon, but when I have it hasn't been that bad for me. The last time I called them wasn't too long ago either. I needed to call somebody about a subscribe-and-save order maybe 3 months ago and it wasn't terrible. I also have the system written down if you need to contact somebody about a defective product. That is probably all changed by now though. It worked out very well for me when I had that used and damaged ladder sent to me, and again 2 weeks later when they sent me another obviously used ladder on the listing that said they were new. But rather than return the 2nd one which just had a few cosmetic defects, they refunded me half of the cost and I got a $250 12ft fiberglass ladder for only $125.

Quote:

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And then, when you do get thru to someone, most often ite seems to be someone in the Pillipines who has a crappy headset/ connection and an indecipherable accent.

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Yeah. I've become pretty rude about that of late. I don't remember who I was talking to just recently and I had to tell her about 4 times "I don't understand you".

Quote:

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That goes along with all the self- checkout services and self - banking servi es and all the apps now.

Grrrr....

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Yeah. I don't have any apps. I've been doing self-banking online since the late 90's though, so I don't mind that at all. I could probably count on 1 hand the amount of times I've had to call a bank or credit card company in the last 10 years.

I refuse to use self-checkout lanes. I always have. I'd rather take the extra time and use a human cashier because I don't want to be a part of what lets the companies replace human beings.

But when I was at WalMart a few months back the experience there really tested my patience. Let's just say that in order to fill quotas, WalMart isn't hiring the best.


--------------------------------------------------

Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

Quote:

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Originally posted by second:

Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

No more. Copper lines couldn't carry much signal. Everything's fiberoptic and digitized, even your landline. So when OUR power goes out, so does our modem, and our landline goes with it. So how do we report a power outage? Or if our landline/ internet provider goes out, how do we call it in? And if our cell provider goes out - same question. It's an added expense, but we've found it very useful to have both wired and cell service. That, and we keep in touch via cell when one of us is out and about. Good for on- the go emergencies too.

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In Texas, the electric companies use smart meters. When the power fails, I get a text from the power company about how long until repair. And Xfinity, my provider of internet service, knows when routers lose power. If a whole city block loses power, Xfinity, suspecting a break in their cable for that block, has gotten trucks here sooner than the power company. A squirrel electrocuted itself and also killed electricity for the whole block. That was in the text from the power company after service was restored.
https://www.smartmetertexas.com/home

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Have you noticed more difficulty reaching a human being in other situations in Canada recently, Brenda?

It got bad around here during Covid lockdowns, but I find it almost impossible to reach a human being almost anywhere these days, including the hospitals without having to call back 6 different times and try different options in the menus.

Customer service is just about dead in America.

--------------------------------------------------

Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Brenda:
Back and in. Manager at the phone store called the repair line and let me use the store phone to speak to them. Technician is coming on Thursday afternoon.

---

Thats the problem with phone problems; when you have a problem, how can you call anyone about it?

Over here, we have two phone services from two different providers - a landline and a mobile, and they go by entirely different routes. Our landline goes thru our modem to a fiberoptic cable, and our cell phone goes wireless to a cell tower (and from there ultimately to different fiberoptic system.)

It used to be that landlines were all copper- based, and the great thing about them was the phone compnay would actually provide its own power, so the copper lines not only carried a signal, they actually provided power to your phone. That way, if your main power went out your phone would usually still work.


No more. Copper lines couldn't carry much signal. Everything's fiberoptic and digitized, even your landline. So when OUR power goes out, so does our modem, and our landline goes with it. So how do we report a power outage? Or if our landline/ internet provider goes out, how do we call it in? And if our cell provider goes out - same question. It's an added expense, but we've found it very useful to have both wired and cell service. That, and we keep in touch via cell when one of us is out and about. Good for on- the go emergencies too.

If you can find a low- cost basic cell and service, BRENDA, you might find it handy.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Got the booby prize today at mah jong.

And inspite of having spoken to a real live person, the telephone repair guy never showed up. Guess, I have to go and yell at them some more.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Gorgeous work Jack. You should be proud of yourself.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
That is beautiful work, SIX. Everything looks so clean and crisp. And even and level! Real classy! It's such a transformation I can't begin to tell you how impressed I am.

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Thanks Sigs.

Quote:

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Also thanks for the pics of the jig for conduit- cutting. I had a hard time picturing it, all I could think was ???? but now I see how useful it is!!

Amazing results!

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Yeah. Hard to explain exactly what it was without pictures.

Awesome for what it was for, but the very next day I had to sheer off the ends of some machined screws to properly fit those drawer pulls and had to hold them between my thumb and a finger on the work bench while I sawed them off because my toolshop is still lacking things it needs and I haven't installed either of my vices yet.

In retrospect, I would have drilled a hole in the side of that unit only wide enough to tightly fit the screw and sawed off the edge that way. I don't know why I just thought of that idea now.

Quote:

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Oh, BTW, it looks like you have a solid surface kitchen countertop. It's funny that you want to replace it with tile bc one think I'd like to do is replace my tile countertop with solid surface. I hate grout, it gets so dirty.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
That's a lot of steps if you're not used to doing it. How you getting around these days, Brenda? Are you able to manage that until they're back on?

--------------------------------------------------

Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
That's a lot of steps if you're not used to doing it. How you getting around these days, Brenda? Are you able to manage that until they're back on?

--------------------------------------------------

Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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It is awkward for sure. I'm still walking pretty good. I should be alright until they are fixed what with tomorrow being Sunday and I don't do anything anyways.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
That's a lot of steps if you're not used to doing it. How you getting around these days, Brenda? Are you able to manage that until they're back on?

--------------------------------------------------

Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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It is awkward for sure. I'm still walking pretty good. I should be alright until they are fixed what with tomorrow being Sunday and I don't do anything anyways.

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Pretty wild weather you got there!

If that was me walking down and then up 10 flights of stairs I would have called it my walk for the day and gone back inside. But I'm sure you do things besides walk for exercise, so I hope any errands are all done.



-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Just a lazy Sunday around me and it is dry for today. Not sure about totally about the rest of the week. Was suppose to work tomorrow then my boss remembered that she made arrangements to go hiking with a friend, so that is off the table. I should send an email to someone else I know as she must be wondering what happened to me. Hopefully I will get to that tonight.

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