Sunday, June 20, 2010

RICK’S FIRST FATHER DAY

Yesterday, the day before Father’s Day, I realized with dismay that I had forgotten to send my son a Father’s Day card. But then I came up with a great idea that, in fact, I think is even better than a store-bought card. I went to yahoo.com and created an email account for my granddaughter, Lily who is six-months old. Then I went to 123greetings.com to send an electronic Father’s Day card to Rick from Lily. I also sent a general greeting card from Lily to my daughter-in-law, Jen, wishing her a belated Mother’s Day as I hate to admit, but I also forgot to send her a card.

I would love to see the expressions on their faces when they read the cards and I’m assuming they will probably guess it was I who sent them. But just in case, I left a message on their phone to ask how they liked their cards. Although I am so very pleased with myself and my cleverness, I can’t help but remember my Father’s words (G-d rest his soul), “Don’t pat yourself on your back too hard, or you will break your arm.

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

SMART CAT

Today, when I told my friend, Sam, about my daughter’s cat, Jafar, disabling the “PgUp” and “PgDn” keys on my laptop computer, he immediately replied, “What a smart cat.” I don’t know why, but his response immediately reminded me of a quote I heard years ago, "If you have enough monkeys banging randomly on typewriters, they will eventually type the entire works of William Shakespeare”. And it made me think that perhaps, with the accomplishments of Jafar and enough monkeys, animals really are smart.

After all, it took Jafar only a few minutes to tap the F7 key, followed by the enter key to disable the “Caret Browsing” feature on my computer. But it took me 24 hours and lots of frustration to fix it.

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Friday, June 18, 2010

CONDO INSURANCE

Whenever we have to pay a condominium bill, we need two signatures on the check. And so, today our treasurer, Laurie, stopped by for me to sign the check for our condo insurance. As she handed me the check she told me how thrilled she was at the reduced rate we received. Or I should say the reduced rate she managed to negotiate with the insurance company. When the bill came our rate had increased by $100. But Laurie said, “There is a guy at work named Benny who said you should always try to get a better price for almost everything you buy and especially for insurance.”

So she took his advice and contacted our insurance carrier. They not only removed the hundred dollars, but decreased it by another twenty dollars. “Laurie,” I said, “Great job. Can I hire you to be my financial advisor?”

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

THE F7 KEY

I sure wish I didn’t waste so much time on my computer. On the other hand, I find this little machine is incredibly fascinating and as I work on it, hours can pass by without my even noticing it. At the same time, it often “DRIVES ME CRAZY”!!!!

Yesterday after my daughter’s cat walked across my keyboard, the “PgUp” and “PgDn” keys stopped functioning properly. At first I though the cat might have jiggled a key in such a manner that it went out of alignment. I thought about pulling off the caps and putting them back on, but I might cause some major damage. Then it occurred to me that maybe it wasn’t the cat’s fault and perhaps my computer caught a virus. Oh no, I thought, do I have to reformat my hard drive again. And what a hassle that would create. But as a first line of defense I simply ran the Malwarebytes antivirus program and luckily learned there were no viruses on my machine.

However, I still had no answer for solving the problem. And so I decided to turn to Google. But that also can be frustrating. I don’t know for sure, but perhaps I spent an hour typing in a wide variety of keywords in an effort to identify the exact problem. You can imagine my relief and sheer delight when I FINALLY discovered the problem. On some forum another user wrote, “Try tapping the F7 key, which enables and disables the caret browsing function. Heaven knows what caret browsing is, but I tried it and voilla – my problem was solved. As they say, “The thrill of winning and the agony of defeat.”

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

KITTY ON THE KEYBOARD

Years ago, my cat often jumped on my lap and curled up as I worked on my desktop computer. But I no longer have a cat and I have long since forgotten about those warm, cuddly moments. However, today when I babysat for my grandchildren, I once again remembered those special times.

While my grandsons played outside, I placed my laptop computer on the kitchen table and began typing. Within a few minutes, my daughter’s cat jumped on the table next to me. Since I love cat’s I was pleased and smiled at the attention she gave me. At first she sniffed my face, but then instead of curling up on my lap she stepped on my computer’s keyboard. Unfortunately, she not only made it impossible for me to finish my work, but she also somehow damaged the keyboard. And now I’m having trouble with my computer. The up and down arrow keys are no longer working properly and I can’t figure out how to fix it !!!!!

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

COMPANY AND HOUSE CLEANING

In a couple of weeks, two of my high school friends will be staying at my house for our “Ladies only” high school reunion. And although I always keep my house neat and fairly clean, there are some relatively unimportant things I tend to overlook, like sweeping out the garage. However, in order to impress my guests, I have undertaken major tasks that I have been avoiding for awhile.

In the past few weeks, I cleaned my refrigerator, stove, and toaster oven. I dragged out a can of white paint in my basement to touch up spots on my walls. And I even polished my furniture, etc. Like many other people, the urge to really clean only seems to arise when we expect company. It’s too bad, because I like how nice the house looks. Still, I’m sorry to admit that once my guests leave, I will no doubt return to my old habits – cleaning what absolutely must be cleaned and letting the other stuff go.

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

STEVE SHARPEE

Recently the salesman who helped me when I bought my new CD player was a great help and extremely personable. I so appreciated the wonderful service he gave me that I asked his name and told him I would email his manager and praise him for the excellent assistance he provided. He of course was very pleased and gave me his name, Justin Sharpee. I explained to him that I had taught school years ago and like many other employees, I remember the number of compliments I received paled in comparison to the criticisms. And so ever since then, I always try to take the time and give recognition to those who deserve it.

We then chatted a bit more and I mentioned that I had also sold real estate. “That’s a coincidence,” he said, “ I have a couple of aunts who taught school and my Dad sells real estate.”
“You’re kidding!” I exclaimed. “Is your Dad, Steve Sharpee?”
“Why, yes,” he replied in complete surprise.
“Justin,” I continued, “Your Dad and I worked for the same real estate company 35 years ago.”

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Friday, June 11, 2010

MY DVD PLAYER

I haven’t rented a movie in a long time, but as I’m expecting guests in a couple of weeks, I decided to view a movie to make sure my player still works. The last time I watched a movie, I simply turned on my player, inserted the disk, and turned my TV to channel 4. And so, I proceeded to follow the same steps. But alas, nothing happened. All that I saw on my TV screen was snow. Good grief, once again modern technology has stymied me !!!

I had no idea what was wrong and at 5:15 on a Saturday afternoon, who could I turn to for help? Luckily, I saw an 800 number on the top of my DVD player. I dialed the number and happily heard a nice young man on the other end of the line who spoke clear English with no accent. I described what I had done and told him that next to my player was another small back piece of equipment with three wires that attached the two pieces together. I also said, “The small black piece of equipment had a button on it that I could switch from 3 to 4, which obviously allowed me to select the correct channel on my TV. In addition,” I continued, “there was a small dark colored bulb that….” And the minute I said it I realized the bulb should probably be glowing a red color, but it was not. Immediately the technician said to me, “Why don’t you check the plug?”

I couldn’t imagine that was the problem as I hadn’t touched my DVD since the last time I used it. But sure enough. The plug was loose and the minute I adjusted it, the movie started. I sure felt like a fool. At the same time, I thought to myself, once again, “Will I ever get use to this modern technology????

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

FAREWELL PARTY

Last night I had a farewell party for my neighbor, Brenda, who sold her home and will move out in another week. We live in a small condominium – a single building that consists of four two-story townhouses, and I invited the other two owners, Laurie and Heidi, as well. My three neighbors all work and so the conversation centered around their co-workers, managers, and office gossip. Since, I am retired, I added little to the conversation.

Meantime, the party reminded me of a similar event about 25 years ago. A different owner had sold her condo and the four of us original purchasers had gathered to say good-bye. Coincidentally the 4 owners at that time were again all women and three of us worked whereas the fourth was retired. And I remember vividly that because I was in my 30’s at the time, the 60+ year’s woman seemed soooo old to me. Now it is I who is 25 years older than the others and no doubt in their eyes I am the old one. As they say, “What goes around, comes around.”

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

WANDA THE WITCH

As I walked in to the restaurant, gusty winds blew my hair into a wild mess. And when I past a mirror, I saw that my dark hair looked horrid. Heaven knows why, but the first thing that came to my mind was the old Sesame Street cartoon of Wanda the Witch who washed her hair on a windy, wintry Wednesday. Perhaps the jingle came to my mind because it was, in fact, Wednesday and my wind-blown hair made me look like a witch.

And then to add to the irony as I drove home, a caller on a radio talk show introduced herself as Wanda. How often do you meet someone named Wanda? What a coincidence. The only thing missing from this scenario was the season. The day was a warm and sunny summer afternoon, not a dreary winter day.

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

JARED’S HOMEWORK

Last night my 12-year-old grandson, Jared, called and asked if he could interview me. “Sure,” I said, “what’s the occasion?” He told me his teacher gave the class an assignment to ask people if they would like to live forever. In a heartbeat, I answered, “Yes.” Just that morning I thought about the amazing advances made by modern technology and I longingly wished to live another 50-100 years in order to see what incredible new inventions would enrich our lives in the future.

He also asked what age I would like to be. Again I quickly responded. “My 50’s.” I replied. By that time all the stresses of growing-up, raising a family, dealing with a career, etc. have past and the easy life of the golden years begins. Of course, I won’t live forever and I’ll never know what the future has in store. But if I’m really curious, I could probably just “google” it and get a clue.

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Monday, June 7, 2010

CHANGING BANKS

Yesterday I learned that financial troubles might force my bank to close. As I have a second checking account at a different bank with a small amount of money, I didn’t think I needed to worry. But then I realized social security and my retirement company send my monthly checks to my main bank. That I thought could be a problem. If the bank closed then what would happen to those payments.

I thought about transferring all my money to a new bank. But contacting social security and my retirement office would be a hassle I really didn’t want to deal with. Not knowing whom I could call for advice, I decided to ask the people at the club where I play bridge every week. Certainly one of them had some banking experience. And sure enough. I learned that when banks fail, the FDIC comes in on a Friday morning, does whatever needs to be done, and on Monday morning the new owners have the bank up and running and “doing business as usual.” It would be nice if all my problems got solved so easily.

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

SWIMMING

I know I should turn off the computer and go swimming. Exercising is important for my health. But I enjoy ‘playing’ with my computer a whole lot more than going to the health club. When I was growing up, I never liked sports and can still remember very well that in grade school, I was always the last kid to get picked for a team. And later when I taught fourth grade, my students once asked me to play baseball with them. I’m sure you can imagine my embarrassment when I struck out.

So here I sit, writing my blog to avoid swimming. However, I do have one very strong motivator – my insurance company sends me a $100 check every six months IF I workout a minimum of ten times a month. Since it is already June 6th and I’ve only swum twice, it looks like I have no choice. I better get my butt off this chair and grab my gym bag.

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

MED DROP

Finally! And what a great idea. This morning between 8:00 and 1:00 anyone with old or unused medications could drop them off at a near-by high school. I have known for sometime that medications should not be flushed down the toilet or tossed in the trash. However, there seemed to be no easy means or information describing how to dispose of old meds. But for the first time that I’m aware of a local organization offered today’s med drop service.

Luckily, early this week I happened to see a notice about this morning’s med drop. And to my surprise there was a big crowd at the high school. Although it was an easy drive-up and drop-off procedure, because of the large number of cars ahead of me I had to wait in line. Personally I didn’t mind the wait and I’m very happy this service was offered. I only hope they start offering it on a regular basis.

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Friday, June 4, 2010

LUNCH WITH RUTHIE

My college sorority sister, Ruthie, who lives in California, traveled to Chicago this month for a family celebration. Since I live only two and one half hours from Chicago, she and her husband decided it would be interesting to drive to Wisconsin for a little sight seeing, do a little business, and meet for lunch.

Although we saw each other a year ago at a sorority reunion, I had never met her husband and so spending time together again was great. We haven’t kept in touch over the years and weren’t that close during our school years, but some how we maintained a special bond and we enjoyed reconnecting with each other and reminiscing over our wonderful memories.

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

NEW CD PLAYER

I enjoy listening to books on tape / CD and because I live alone I can listen for three to five hours a day if I want. As a result of such constant use, my players seem to break down after only a year and a half. Luckily, when I bought my first machine, I also purchased the customer protection plan for about $10-$15. Thus, I can return the broken player with my service plan and receive an entirely new one for free.

Well yesterday, my CD player broke. But when I went back to, BestBuy they were out of the player I wanted. In addition, I didn’t want to wait until a new one arrived, as I had books to listen to when I returned home. So I said I would buy the demo model on the shelf, if they would give me a discount for the few scratches on the machine. The salesman said he would check with his manager. And to my delight they reduced the price by $25.00. Well, I left the store with a new player, a $15 customer protection plan that didn’t cost me anything, $10 in my pocket, and as you can imagine a BIG smile on my face.

www.FunnyPhotosContest.com. Submit CUTE or FUNNY photos and tell friends to vote. $2,000 in prizes. No entry fee.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

THE BLACK BEAR JOKE

Last week I heard a newscaster broadcast a story about a black bear wandering in Waunakee, a small town in Wisconsin near DeForest. As my grandsons live in Waunakee I quickly called them to ask if they had seen the bear. But much to their disappointment, they had not.

Meantime, this morning, the newscaster told a cute joke about the bear. “Do you know why the Black Bear came to Waunakee? He was sick of DeForest !!!” Kind of corny, but nevertheless, I was anxious to tell the joke to my grandsons, as I thought they would really like it. So when they got home from school, I called them, But Grandmas must be the last to know, because they had already heard the joke.

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

ANCHOR BANK

My neighbor who recently sold her house happened to mention today that her buyers couldn’t obtain a loan from Anchor Bank, as their loan department has closed. Oh my gosh I thought – I do my banking at Anchor. Granted my account only totals about $3,500 as I have invested all my assets elsewhere, but the social security office and my pension company send my monthly checks directly to Anchor Bank. And I use the money at Anchor for my daily living expenses – food, gas, clothes, insurance, etc.

Because the FDIC insures Anchor, I know I won’t lose any of my money. But if they go under, it will create a real hassle. A couple years ago, I heard the bank was having some financial difficulties but they were taking care of it and customers need not worry. Even so, I removed $500 and opened an account at a credit union for a little measure of security. But now I’m wondering if I should totally close the Anchor account.

The problem is whom do I call for advice? Certainly not Anchor.

By Hannah www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.