Am I a Geek???

Used to be I was totally up to date on all the new fangled gadgets going around - owned and operated them ... well ... hellooooo BLUETOOTH! First of all .. where did that name come from? I never really knew what it was and I'm not sure I know now but I'm using it/them/him.
I had to sign up for a local cell number because my Oregon carrier was losing money on me with all the calls I was making from San Carlos, with an Oregon number. I ended up going with Verizon .. not because of the TV commercials, but because the website was easier to navigate and the cost is about the same as anyone else.
I bought a new RAZR (where did that name come from?) and went back 2 days later to buy the handsfree earpiece .. not just any old earpiece, but a BLUETOOTH thingy. I had to bring it home to charge it up then I tried to follow the instructions for both my RAZR and the BLUETOOTH gadget to get them talking to each other. That went about as well as can be expected .. which resulted in another trip to the Verizon store in Redwood City where a young man showed me how to get them going. SUCCESS at last!
Next problem was getting the blasted earpiece over my ear, so the little nozzle that's the 'speaker' fits inside my ear. That took many tries on both ears, much swearing .. until finally I got it to fit ... (sigh of relief)
Then I realized that the phone and the earpiece were no longer talking to each other ... not to worry, I was talking to both of them, in no uncertain terms.
Determined as I am to stay up-to-date with the new gadgets, I finally succeeded and I'm sitting here with the BLUE 'thing' in my left ear, feeling like a BORG!

THIS IS THE NEXT DAY. I woke with new resolve and tried the BLUETOOTH again .. when it's operating a little icon shows up on your cell phone ... yes, it's there! Everything looks right. Walk around the house, use computer, put things away, make bed, make breakfast, etc. etc. with the BORG thing on my ear, check the phone ... oops .. the little icon has disappeared. Phone call to Verizon ... MAKE NOTE OF THIS EVERYONE ... YOU ACTUALLY TALK TO SOMEONE HERE IN THE U.S.!!!! Very helpful young lady walked me through everything ... I actually think I know what I'm doing and now I'm an official GEEK!!

New Photos of Rich (more posted earlier)

Today is Monday and I'm over my 'feeling sorry for myself' phase for now ... I went through some more photos and have some neat ones to post here ...

We used to love to go fishing .. mostly in lakes but also on commercial vessels for salmon or stripers. Rich never believed in 'bottom fishing' because there was no challenge .. it was just a matter of dropping the line over the side of the ship, waiting, and reeling in the dead fish. He was so happy when he came home with this lovely striper ... we both caught one that day and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

He used to get up around 4:20 am and get home some time around 3 pm so sleeping was an important part of his daily routine. Dusty (on his lap) and Fluffy (curled up in his arm) couldn't wait for him to lie down and fall asleep .. he was a built-in heater for them!

When we lived in the San Francisco Bay Area (Rich was born and raised there) we never missed a 49er home game and even travelled back east to see their first Super Bowl (XVI) .. what a thrill! He'd had season tickets for years and I joined him in 1974. We had fantastic tailgate parties with friends of ours and we flew the Union Jack and the Greek flag so countrymen could find us. (Our friends were Greek heritage) Here we are doing our impersonation of the Marine flag raising on Iwo Jima.


I threw a surprise birthday party for him on his 60th birthday .. he came home from work (Saturday) and was grumbling about all the cars parked on the street .. we had a great party in the back garden and this is a comical nurse who came to entertain! I had a stripper (only down to a bikini) go to his workplace to surprise him there and I was told he blushed and tried to keep his eyes averted .. for a while.


After he retired, we moved up to Oregon and that's where we adopted our first German Shepherd, Martini. There must be something special about Rich's lap because whatever animals we had, they always ended up there!


He loved boats and sailing ... he had boats as a young man and we had a boat too .. plus we'd often go lake fishing on row boats. This was taken in the replicated wheelhouse of a Navy ship (if there's a Navy person out there who can identify the type of ship, let me know).



In Grants Pass, Oregon we went every weekend to a wildlife place where they had big cats .... and some very little cats. Here's Rich trying to give instructions to a tiger cub we were babysitting (with little success).




We lived for ten years in Brookings, on the Oregon coast just a few miles north of the California border .. it's a beautiful area called the "banana belt" because of it's awesome weather. He found a piece of driftwood that looked like a six-gun so he decided to quick-draw his son.


Here he is being goofy ... I don't remember where that fluffy toy cat came from but it certainly gave him a chuckle. We enjoyed each other so much .. there are so many wonderful memories.



This was taken at a small airshow we attended, about seven months before he died. He'd already lost about 25 pounds (which he could ill afford) as you can see by the shirt. He's wearing what I called his "Sinatra hat" ... a straw hat that he loved. I thought it added a 'flair' to his looks.

On one of our jaunts in the car, he spotted this 'dog' as we drove by .. there's a two story house behind those trees ... Even though he was legally blind (I used to tease him that if a woman in a bikini was on TV, his vision became 20/20) he couldn't miss this. They even printed this photo in the local paper because it was so unusual. We drove by the house again a few months later, and would you believe they'd cut the trees down!

Lonesome me

It's Sunday and yesterday I had another meltdown .. today hasn't been so bad. I can't believe how totally alone I feel .. after 32 years of being with someone who loved and cared for me .. and now being alone with no one to talk to or discuss things with .. no one to say "yes, that's a good place to hang the picture", or "let's watch ---- tonight".
I remember when my mother first came over here a few years after my dad died, she said she missed him because there was no one to choose things with or show off a new piece of clothing to ... and I thought I understood but I didn't at that time. NOW I DO!
I bought a squirrel feeder, borrowed an electric drill and attached it to an upright on my deck ... all that have been eating out of it so far are Chickadees and Jays! At the other end of the deck, I hung up a brand new feeder (for Chickadees!!!) which no one has touched yet! Between both is my hummingbird feeder ...
Thank you for 'listening'.

New Living Accommodations

I'm still getting organized in my 'townhouse' (lol) but I took some photos with my new digital camera (Nikon Coolpix 5) and only just found the cord to upload them into my computer .. so here goes.

A good place to start is daybreak .. this was one of many gorgeous sunrises lately ... when there's some haze or a little fog in the east bay (way in the distance), the sun turns redder until it clears the fog ...

This is a shot through my sliding glass doors ... that hummingbird feeder has to be filled once a week ... it's so much fun watching the little 'macho' fellow defend his territory. I have little lights hanging above the railing which come on at dusk and stay on until about midnight ...

Here's a view from my deck showing the swimming pool and spa, and the rest of San Carlos ... the view spans from the Highway 92 (San Mateo) bridge south past the Dumbarton bridge .. it's awesome.

We had this little pond with us in our last two homes .. it's actually a watering trough (very tough) and Rich put together the little cedar 'fence' around it to make it look more rustic. The lifesized duck is a decoy I picked up at a garage sale ... Rich loved this pond, so it's dedicated to his memory .. as is most everything I do!


Here's my living room with my 62" LCD HD TV (I love saying that!) ... it's a little snug but I need my 'things' around me for now and it is quite comfortable.

OK, that's all for now ... I've been a bit 'down' lately ... having trouble with my back and now my chronic tendonitis in my shoulder has flared up again! I've had more than enough pain this year and I'm ready for it all to end!