Around The Curve: Retiree Meets Techie

It was a normal retiree day in the neighborhood when my phone rang about 9:30. It was mom calling to say her house phone wasn't working again, so asked if I would go with her to purchase a new system. After a few Aleve tablets, I was ready to head out to Radio Shack. Found a system with answering machine and one extra handset which provided all she needed.

As she was browsing the remaining aisles, I took the opportunity to ask a technosales dude if they had MiFi and yep, he said, they did. Off he raced to the other side of the store (gimpy one trying to keep up with technoyoungster) where he showed me two systems: one to use for up to 5 items, and another for just one. A one time payment for the little gadget and a no contract $40/mo fee for unlimited internet use. Wow, this is great...well, I think. Techie said if I could receive a Sprint phone signal, I could use this. Am thinking I might get this for our west trip and even might cancel the wireless home service I have now. Nontechie Me will have to research and ponder this for awhile to make sure I'm not making a big mistake.

I now have a 2yr phone contract with Verizon - ummm, do I change that too, maybe sometime in the future when my present contract expires? Ummmm, it would be awesome to have my own reliable hot spot wherever I travel..   Unlimited use... double ummmm.... now some research will be done to determine Sprint coverage in the western US. They promise the world, but will they deliver?

We ate lunch at Jerry's, which serves the best broasted chicken. I've always loved their chicken wings so that's what I ordered with (real) mashed potatoes and slaw. Yum, yum. Mom got the same thing and we were both pleased.  I didn't eat all the potatoes and barely touched the hush puppies, but the chicken wings were definitely devoured. The waitress kept trying to get us to order some homemade banana pudding. It was hard to resist, but my stuffed tummy wasn't interested in making room for anything else.

We made a little tour of the town and stopped for a few quick errands. She wanted me to set up her phone system so I did that then set the answering machine plus the time/date, etc. When I left it was still charging. She received a short call before I left and it worked fine.  All's well that ends well. Well, I hope it's the end of her phone difficulties. If not, we will work on another ending.