Major "Surgery" in The Plumbing Department, Update #1

 Like many of our friends, we're redoing the bathrooms. It seems to be the home renovation for the 65+ crowd here. 

• widen the doors
• replace the tub with a shower
• get those non-slip floor tiles

In the process, we've, or more precisely our plumber son and the professional he anointed to work for us, discovered that most of the house pipes need to be replaced. 

This is ending up being more complicated and time consuming than the hip/knee replacements many friends have signed up for. Nowadays people almost walk off the operating table, and many are home the next day. While body parts have become bionic, renovating the bathroom is for those who like to break things up and play in the dirt.

This isn't a time to wear my hearing aids. You can't do it silently, though the boys who did the "destruction" worked quickly and were very polite. Honestly, I can't complain. 

After Day #1, we still have water, though I wonder how long that will last. There's also a working toilet by the front door, and the kitchen is still business as usual. 

Today's plan is to take apart the laundry room, so the "final" wash is in the machine as I write this.

B"H, thank Gd, a neighbor has invited us to stay by her, so I was there last night. It was so nice to be out of a building site. But as you can see, I returned bright and early to the computer. Today's cold brew coffee is waiting in the fridge.

More updates to come, Gd willing.

bathroom laid bare, stripped of tiles, sink, etc

container parked across the street for the garbage

Modern World: Tech Updates for Old Fogies

The other day my smartphone got very stubbornly dumb on me. Suddenly Chrome didn't work. Instead of going into all of the programs, weather reports etc. it had a "snap" message. My mail was still working, as was whatsapp plus the camera, but that was about it. I couldn't even check the weather.

I tried restarting the phone, but it didn't help at all. Of course, I began to panic. I was also embarrassed, considering that I'm considered an "expert" and even teach my peers how to use their phones and computers. So for me to be stymied was really bad.

Of course, I read and reread and read yet again all of the suggestions the phone gave me for fixing this problem. And I tried to follow instructions.

The few hours I was without internet on the phone felt like months, especially since I wasn't home and had no wifi as backup. Why do these things always happen when in transit?

Finally I tried something which seemed a bit "risky," since the instructions said that I may lose information/connections/whatever if I do it. I figured I had no choice. I started trying to uninstall Chrome. Now, that ended up a lot more complicated than I had expected. Apparently, Chrome is not your ordinary app. But I reached a stage in my quest that offered me a way of updating it, so I went for it. And then like magic, Chrome functioned. Whew.

And then... the very next day, my phone sent me a message that "it" was going to perform a major update. And it offered me some options as to when the "procedure" would happen. I opted for "sleep time," from 2-4am if I remember the numbers correctly. In the middle of the night, I woke to see that my phone was all lit up. I grabbed it to check if there had been some sort of emergency, but instead, even sans glasses, I could make out a message that it was updating.

In the morning, I found all sorts of changes. There are messages about some new options, and some icons have changed. Also the camera works differently. It's almost like having a new phone. But at least it was free.

I really don't mind learning new ways and things. Gd willing, the challenges will keep senility away...