Movies, Madness, Mayhem, and Surviving the Technical Support Line

Aristotle, the Christmas Dog
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After a day of driving through Oklahoma (forgot how boring that is--especially at this time of year.  There's nothing to look at whatsoever, and in December, all the nothing is brown and gray), arrived safely in Arlington, despite absurd Dallas traffic, including fender bender from guy behind us smacking into the back of us in completely stopped traffic.  Go figure.  Fortunately not much damage and he handed over his insurance information without a complaint.  Didn't make the 12,000 other drivers very happy, though, as we were stuck in the middle of 5 lines, and it was faster just to write the stuff down than to try to move the cars over (not to mention that I wasn't convinced that we could trust the guy to move over if we let him go.....)  Sigh.

David: making inroads into a hand-imported gift from Sweden
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Spent next two days hunkering down not leaving the house--afraid to get near any other damn fool with a car.  Instead, engaged in such socially useful activities as reading magazines, trying to make friends with Aristotle, the King Charles Spaniel (VERY shy and suspicious of all strangers, even Tim, though I never before saw a dog that wouldn't make friends with Tim!), eating cookies, and lying back in leather loungers engaged in a veritable movie extravaganza, including the requisite Christmas standbys: It's a Wonderful Life, and A Christmas Story, the new Plexar smash clever hit Wall-E, and my personal favorite, Phantom of the Opera (the Andrew Lloyd Weber version.)

"The dog prefers pink, anyway."

Michele & Mrs. Beasley--after a very long wait!
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Christmas Day peaceful:  Gifts big hit all around.  Happiest person was the dog who got two new toys, and spent the morning thrashing Lambchop.  David started to make fancy baked ham dinner, only to be foiled by a friend of Michele's who sent their "leftovers":  roast beef, ham, potatoes w/mushroom,s creamed spinach, squash risotto, and more bread than you've seen in one place outside a bakery.  We canceled the first ham and started on the leftovers, which will last two or three more days at least.  Made abortive effort to go see famed Interlaken Christmas lights; "abortive" due to fact that the line of cars (at 9:00 on Christmas night) waiting to get INTO the neighborhood stretched better than a mile.  Progress at idling pace or slower.  There are signs up:  "Approximate wait from here:  2.5 hours."  We went home.

David's Return to 21st Century Connectivity
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Biggest Hit of the Day: Michele's Mrs. Beasley doll (an original from 1967, NOT the cheesy knock-off copy from 2000 with Cheryl Ladd doing the voice of Mrs. Beasley!).  She always wanted one as a child, and never got one until now.  David pursued, conspiracy with Carrie to engage in E-Bay auction ensued, and a Christmas miracle was enacted, complete with original glasses, apron, and functional voice box.  Way to go--that's how gift giving OUGHT to work!

Most Creative Object Du Jour:  Carrie's gift from Tim, a camera bag with, get this, a solar panel.  It comes equipped with a cigarette-lighter jack, so you can pop your cell phone recharger in, schlep it around with you up the side of Mt. Lassen, say, and recharge your phone at the same time.  With additional charger cables, virtually anything can be charged:  MP3 players, PDAs (though my PDA is in the phone, so it's a two-for-one), even laptops.  (For laptops, they recommend purchasing the separate laptop charging bag, as the laptop won't fit in the camera bag.  Now you, too, can get away from it all in the deep wilderness and not have to do without your laptop!  Go technology!  (Notice that Tim knows how to take advantage of Carrie's obsession with any technological gadget!)

Worn Out!
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Most Spectacular Failure:   Carrie failed to learn names of significant number of dog's toys.  There is "Pinkie Piggy," not to be confused with "Baby Pinkie."  There's also "Bun Bun" (currently MIA, but whom I met in March when last here), and then there are the new Christmas Acquisitions--a British Bear Bobby, whose name I forget, and Santa Rag Doll (not popular), and Lambchop, the Thrashed.   Then there are a whole bunch more, whose names I haven't got a clue about.   There's a purple bone that might be called "Purple Purple," but I would have to consult.  The dog prefers pink, anyway.

Most Useful Accomplishment:  Had ancillary role in getting David re-connected to Internet.  Michele bought him a new computer for Christmas, but getting the bugger set up for actual contact proved more annoying that one might have hoped.  Turned out, as demonstrated by my failure to connect my laptop to the home network backed by David's subsequent failure to connect his new one, and followed by at least three lengthy phone calls to the AT&T technical service division (David should get a medal for that!) that the service person who was here in February (right before I was here in March and failed to connect at that time) changed the Network Access Key and didn't tell anyone.  Go Figure.  At any rate, as evidenced by my addition of this scintillating travel update, all is now copacetic, and David is back in the 21st Century, at least so far as accessibility to Internet goes.  Try it out--send him an e-mail and see if he answers!  (No guarantees!  :-D)  Next challenge:  figure out why the AOL software loads all blank screens.....

Big plan for the day:  hang out doing nothing followed by one more attempt at Christmas lights, possibly just after dark before those crazier than we get there to form a 1-mile line, followed by Chinese food for dinner.  Tomorrow, Tim and I head out again--off to Oklahoma City to see the NPS memorial there, then Chickasaw Mountain.  I'm sure you're waiting with bated breath.