Gift Honoraria

Some honoraria and minor awards have accumulated.  Gift cards for serving as a research subject.  Minor awards for OLLI contests.  I've not redeemed any of them, but carry a $50 Bill with a portrait of US Grant in my wallet.  Not every place accepts them anymore.  A Target card.  Some Barnes & Noble cards.  Now an Amazon $50 voucher sent online from a research project.  Plus a $25 Visa card as a rebate for replacing my tires last year.

I don't need any stuff, or particularly want any stuff.  Not that there isn't stuff that I like owning.  My fondness for pens knows no limits.  I bought two cartridge pens from Amazon in the last year, one to replace the first that malfunctioned.  I have multiple sets of daily and weekly planning pens that I rotate.  They have five colors:  Black= Most tasks; Blue=My home; Green=professional; Red=Financial; Purple designates which tasks each day have identifiable endpoints.  I would perhaps like a set of Flair pens in those colors.

In the past I have purchased harmonicas, which I almost never play.  Perhaps I would return to my childhood violin if I had a functioning bow.  They run about $40.  Or a new instrument.  For $50 Amazon could introduce me to a recorder, bugle, or bongos.  Mandolins, ukeleles, and low end guitars exceed budget.  All but the violin bow exceed any serious desire to acquire them.

In retirement, I have enough clothing.  Anything suitable as office or synagogue wear has been replicated many times over.  One pair of jeans, perhaps two, seem worthy of repair of one and replacement of another.  I have shirts, daily pants, shoes to excess.  Though I really like the white New Balance shoes I bought there last year.  Maybe a parallel pair in black would get worn to different places than where I currently wear the white ones.  

There are logos.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Eagles, SLU, Mizzou.  Some of my cards channel me to Barnes & Noble which sponsor enough college bookstores to create irritating markups for mugs and t-shirts.  The cards together would not subsidize one of those black and maple chairs with the university seal that we sit on while waiting in the Dean's office.

Perhaps Judaica.  My home is already fully functional.  I bought an Atarah for my tallit online many years ago.  I forgot if the purchase came from Amazon or a site dedicated to Judaica.  And Amazon gave me the best price on a Mezuzah Klaf to replace one damaged from my office.  But I don't need anything.

Finally my kitchen.  When I need something, or see something that would enhance my performance there, I just buy it on sight.  I added a set of milchig storage bowls on sale at my usual supermarket.  My milchig mandoline failed, a super flimsy item.  I could justify replacing that if I had more occasion to slice vegetables used in dairy preparation.  I seldom do that.  Cookware I have to excess.  What I need for entertaining I have to excess.

Plastic cards sit either in my wallet or in the containers with which they were presented.  An online card is a first for me.  That I need to redeem lest it float in cyberspace, never fulfilling what the research grant that purchased it intended for their subjects to enjoy.  I need to make a decision.

Some Minor Consumerism

There are items I need.  Things like dishwashing soap, pants and eggs.  There are things that I kinda need like coffee and seltzer in lieu of wretched soda.  And there are things that I want but really don't need like most of the food my doctor discourages or the link bracelet I often wear on my right wrist.  Another category might be things I really don't need but want until I have them, after which they shift into need.  A cell phone or 55" big screen flat TV would be among these.  And within needs there are gradients of want.  While I need a shirt, its Phillies logo moves it into something that I want.  And most things from freebie tables are probably momentary wants, rarely needs, though I do appreciate some of the totes and logo umbrellas I've acquired that way.

So time to surf amazon.com as a few items that I already possess have shown need for upgrade or replacement.  Could use some semi-casual shoes.  Found suede chukka boots both in my size and on sale, a rare match in any store.  I probably needed a new pair of daily shoes, or really every other day shoes to enhance their longevity.  That hybrid of kinda need and want, though only want at a favorable price.  My cell phone needed urgent replacement.  T-Mobile ripped me off for a screen protector which promptly cracked.  I needed a new screen protector.  And while I was there, since free shipping needs a minimum purchase, I found a suitable case, which incidentally comes with its own screen protector.  Into the cart.

My smartwatch, an iTouch Slim has begun to fail.  I retrieved some more traditional dial watches, two of three in need of new batteries.  Watch batteries a lot less expensive at amazon.com than at Walgreens, so into the cart.  But I really like my iTouch better, though we could quibble about whether it can be worn to shul as it goes on and off electronically with hand motion.  I wear it.  Despite the inconvenience of having to charge it, which I don't with my traditional watches, I liked its slim appearance and greatly appreciate the ability to set a wrist buzz to assign the fixed awake and retire times required for optimal sleep hygiene.  Alas, its charge barely lasts a day.  

As technology improves, that same expenditure gives more features.  I selected a GloryFit model, larger square face, though I found the slim face more unobtrusively stylish.  What sold me were the doodads, the ability to select a hundred or more displays, nearly all in color, compared to my iTouch selection of three monochrome fonts.  This model offers me the weather, a sleep tracker that is probably inaccurate, an oxygen and blood pressure read, also not to depend upon.  Basically, it's part watch, part toy, and at almost the same price as the one it replaces, which makes it somewhat disposable if its use disappoints.

All but the chukka boots and batteries have arrived.  Cell phone in its case.  Cracked screen protector replaced, with four more on standby in anticipation of this protector serving its purpose by eventually sustaining a replaceable injury.  GloryFit watch charged, playing with the settings.  Minor gripes already, the temperature reads as Celsius, though I programmed Imperial units.  I do understand metric units, though.  Indeed, it would be better for Americans to just use them like everyone else.  Choose a different watch face later today.

Electronic Misadventures

Not being a Geek, I depend frequently depend on their expertise.  It's been an electronically difficult few weeks.  My laptop crumped, victim to a cup of spilled herb tea.  There remains a place for gratitude.  The experts at Best Buy were able to capture my data, including my Microsoft programs.  Moreover, while replacement poses an unexpected expense, I have the resources to meet it with no impact on my lifestyle.

The Amazon replacement came promptly.  Making it function went easily.  Being a modern version, it lacked a built in DVD drive that I use for my library CD's and for Great Courses.  No problem.  They only cost about $25 from a variety of online sources.  I picked one from Walmart, which turned out to be partially good fortune.  It came ahead of schedule.  Despite my best efforts, I could not get the computer to recognize it in the USB port, let alone get it to work. The device came with a small folded card of instructions, written by somebody who learned English as a second language or somebody who could send something to a printer for mass distribution without being hassled by an editor first.  My wife made some headway but in the process corrupted the Google Chrome access which started presenting Hide History as its search results.  I couldn't get rid of it.  A computer that fully functioned in cyberspace stopped functioning.  I installed, then uninstalled two Media Player programs. Fortunately, when I purchased the laptop I included a comprehensive warranty.  A phone call to the Amazon warranty carrier eventually got me to somebody who could get me back to Chrome as I was used to using it.  He could not get the DVD going. One final try.  Walmart contracts with an organization called WOW electronics to provide this product.  They had a customer service number which I called.  Nobody answered the phone.  Their automated menu offered to take me to customer service but the best I could do there was leave my phone number for a callback.  None over the next hour or so. Before going to Walmart, I needed to generate the receipt from the electronic purchase.  No problem, just print the email of the transaction.  Unfortunately, my printer didn't print, as the printer had not been installed on the new laptop.  I thought I could do this, following instructions for downloading.  I got our all-in-one ready for scanning but not for printing.  My wife, who has done this before and knows the side traps, got it done with some effort.  But a printed receipt got stuffed into the packing that came with the DVD drive.

Since I only had the device a couple of days, I checked out return policies, after slamming the product on Walmart's online review, though I was more than generous with Walmart itself which made the purchase easy and delivered ahead of schedule.  Apparently a product purchased at walmart.com could be returned to a local store, which I did.  I would have expected the young lady at Customer Service to have more familiarity with online returns but she got by.  My DVD which had no use to me went into a box, shipping label generated, and my credit card will get it's refund when the product arrives at the warehouse.

It's been at least months, probably early fishing season, or maybe during my visit to metro St. Louis for my son's wedding that I last entered a Walmart.  In person shopping has taken a big hit.  Aisles were cluttered, shelves had major merchandise gaps, staff was hanging on in the hope that they could move onto another place that pays more without acquiring skills that would make most of them worth more.  Might Walmart in person have another DVD?  Not only didn't I see one, every person I saw in their computer section worked in a different department.  They had a great price on a flash drive, which I needed, so I got that.  A trip to Walmart is never complete without a stop at the fishing aisle.  Saw some braid at a good price, but another time.  I stood on a not too fast moving line with a ten dollar bill extracted from my wallet to pay for the flash drive.  My turn came up, with the attendant motioning me to a scanner.  I scanned the flash drive, then inserted the $10.  Instead of giving me my change and a receipt it dispensed two five dollar bills.  Next I inserted my usual credit card in the usual way but the screen informed me it could not be read.  No better on the repeat.  It asked for another card or for cash.  I put in one of the $5 bills, took a single out of my wallet, inserted them, and watched the machine process my receipt and a few coins change.  Not a great shopping experience though I wonder if the shoppers, including me, really deserve any better.  Maybe not.  Or maybe that's why online shopping has begun to nudge out on-site retailers.  Touching a product pre-purchase has an advantage but My Space where I navigate through my laptop appears far more orderly and the people I encounter online when I need assistance seem to have gotten more out of their schooling than the people whose aid I seek in the local stores.

I still need a usable DVD player.  Amazon had one that I liked so I put it into the cart.  To get free shipping I need to spend another few dollars, so this may be an opportunity to buy a tripod or a kittel with the remaining $55 in five dollar bills that I harvested from cash change the second half of 2020.  Much to my surprise, amazon.com includes kittels in their inventory, exactly the $55 I have to spend, but I think the tripod would be a better way to get me past the free shipping shortfall this time.

Assembling

My new TV stand for My Space arrived promptly from Amazon.  While it had generally gotten good reviews once assembled, there were comments from previous purchasers about damage or missing parts.  Mine was left by the delivery people some distance from my front door.  It was too heavy to pick up but I have a hand cart so with some help I was able to move it from in front of the garage to my living room.  The following day I unboxed it and moved a few shelves at a time upstairs to be assembled in the room where it would be used.  The box had two breaks but more importantly, the hardware packet had a tear which left plastic caps and metal shelve pegs scattered within it, to fall randomly onto my living room carpet as I removed the wooden components.  Foam adequately protected everything but it was a crumbly foam that will add to a living room vacuuming chore later.  I retrieved the hardware, accounting for everything except two pegs.  The company, us costway,  must be used to less than content consumers, providing an email contact but no phone.  I told them about the missing pegs.  The next day they responded that they will send another packet of screws.  I have all the screws.

By now I've assembled enough flat-packed furniture that the absence of language on the assembly instructions does not deter me, though a number of former users noted on Amazon feedback that the instructions were not entirely self-explanatory.  Without the prior experience, I'd probably agree.

Tomorrow it goes up.  I think I might be able to get by without the final two pegs but I contacted them again and asked for shelf pegs, not more screws.