The College Process

Apparently the college selection process has officially begun.  When I got home from work tonight, there was a stack of envelopes addressed to Sarah from a variety of small colleges.  I was sort of surprised because I didn't think she had put her name into any "pool" to receive literature from any schools.  Maybe it was because we went to the college fair last yer.

There weren't a lot of schools that Sarah was really interested.  Most were small, private colleges, though she did have literature from a couple of bigger name schools, like Drake, Ball State, and Bradley.  Those three actually had the major that Sarah was thinking about, but she also has said she wants to stay within Wisconsin.  So that will limit her choices significantly.  Who knows, maybe that will change somewhere down the road, but for now, it looks like she has already narrowed her choices.  So now we just need to look at what schools in state might have the major she wants and go take some campus tours.

No Cell Phone

Well that's just perfect.  I am now without a cell phone.  Last night as I went to turn my phone off, it locked up on me.  When I tried to reset it, it got stuck in a loop of booting up, never getting to the phone's home screen.  So I took it in to Best Buy (where I have the insurance for the phone) to see if there was anything they could do, short of sending it in to be replaced.  They said, no, they don't do any of that in the store anymore.  I have to go online and submit a claim.  I will have a new phone sent to me (actually a refurbished one) and then I send my non-working phone back to them.  However, that means that after I put this claim in, I will have to wait two to three business days before getting the replacement phone, which means the soonest it will be here would be Tuesday, though since it is Sunday night, they won't get the claim until tomorrow, which would mean that I wouldn't have a phone until Wednesday at the earliest.

It also means something else.  All my contacts, music, etc. that WAS on my phone will need to be replaced.  I had everything saved to the phone, rather than backed up on my computer, or online (in the cloud).  Well that lesson was learned the hard way I guess.  As soon as the new one gets here, I'll have to sync it to one of my online accounts, probably the Google one since that is the one I use for putting in entries here.  Once again I am going to say it...  Cell phones suck!

Cell Phones

So get this...  I had to upgrade Sarah's phone.  She was due to have her phone upgraded and actually had cracked her screen in July so she has been limping along since then.  But it was totally falling apart.  Her camera wasn't working, there was an issue with her charging jack...  it was a mess.  So I told her it was time to get her a new phone, and Best Buy had a 64GB iPhone 6 for $300.  I figured with the insurance, etc. it would be about $600, which is what I had usually done in the past, just paid for it all up front, and been done with it.  I should add at this point that AT&T is my cell service and I had the "4 lines for $140" deal that they offered about a year ago.  I was totally happy with it for the most part.  We never go over the shared data limit (10GB) or the minutes (I think it is 750/month).  So the sales person starts giving me the AT&T next pitch....  I figure, no, I want to just pay for it all up front since I always do.  Then she says that I can do that, but if I do, I lose my $25 monthly discount that I get with the "4 for 140" deal.  And the AT&T Next price for the phone is $25/month, so it's a wash and either way I am going to end up paying an extra $25/month.  I was like, WHAT???!!!

So I went the AT&T Next plan route, but I am totally not happy.  All of us could stand to have our phones upgraded, but if I do, then I lose my discounts per line???!!!  That is absolutely ridiculous!  I wonder if the Best Buy sales person was just giving me a line about losing the discount?  I only go there because it is much easier to deal with the sales people there than at the AT&T store (plus I think they actually have a bigger/better selection).  Either way though, I am not happy!  Kris has a 4S that is almost 3 years old, and Alison has a 4S that is about a year and half old, both of which have issues with the top button turning off, so they need to be replaced, but I also don't want the bill to jump by another $25 per phone.  

Cell phone companies suck!  I think it may be time to start shopping around for a new carrier/plan.

Fuel Door

It always seems like if it isn't one thing, it's another with Sarah's car.  Tonight, I had to go fill it up and as I opened the fuel cap door, it snapped off in my hand.  Perfect!  After looking at it, I could see that it had been broken off before and just glued back together.  Unfortunately, it had gotten so cold, the glued joint had become so brittle, it just snapped.  I don't think that I could re-glue it at this point and have it hold because it is just too cold. 

Luckily for me, I was able to find a replacement one on ebay in about five minutes, the correct color, and for only about $20 too.  So in about a week, I'll have a new fuel door to install.  It looks like it is only held on by three screws, so it should be pretty easy to replace.

Skeleton Project

Sarah brought home the materials for an anatomy project that she is working on to end the semester.  She and her partner are to sketch a picture of a human skeleton labeling every bone.  She and her partner started out by tracing her partner on a sheet of paper and then they were going to draw the bones in the outline.

Sarah began drawing in bones, but since the sheet is a little over 6 feet long she had to have in on the floor to draw it.  Samson began playing with the paper since it was making a crinkling noise and was just generally getting in the way.  So I got up to shoo him away.  Unfortunately, when I clapped my hands and shouted "HEY!", it spooked him to the point where he took off running.  But since he was on a flat surface, his claws couldn't dig into anything, except Sarah's paper, which ended up ripping the paper in several places.  That of course, lead to me being blamed for ruining her project. 

Luckily, I was able to locate a store that carried a similar type of paper that she could use to trace out the old bone drawings and transfer to the new sheet.  The bad part was that the store didn't open until 12:00, which meant that I had to miss the start of the Packers-Cowboys game.  In fact, all the running around caused me to miss the entire first half.  But at least the girls have the things they need for their schoolwork, which is more important than watching a football game.

Pics of the Skeleton Project if I can get them when it is complete.

About Time

I finally have some free time to so I suppose it is about time I sit down and try to catch up on what has been happening around here.  Things have been busy with the holidays and with what we have been doing with Kris's dad.  He had a stroke at the beginning of December and between visiting him in the hospital and rehab, and helping with the girls' homework, doing things around here for Christmas and outside with the snow and Sarah's car, it has just been hectic. 

So my goal is to post a couple of things a week.  I was doing pretty well last year until November, so with any luck I'll be able to keep up with things in the new year.