My New Escape

After 12 years and 227,000 miles, I decided it was time to buy a car. I decided about a year ago that when the time came, I was buying a small SUV. It was between the Toyota Rav4 and the Ford Escape. Since I rent cars weekly, I had several opportunities to try out different versions of small SUV's and after driving an Escape for a week last summer I was sold. I really didn't want to buy a new one but wanted a low mileage 'pre-owned'.

Wednesday evening I arrived back from Oklahoma City around 4 and went to the Ford dealer in Liberty to check out the options. I asked about low mileage used and the first one I saw fit the plan. It had everything I couldn't live without, PLUS heated seats, remote start, AND would sync to my Blackberry for hands free talking. After some nimble negotiating which included me promising NOT to make them take my Camry in trade, I am the owner of a 2010 Escape!

Now I have to figure out how to get rid of the Camry. Maybe I could have it bronzed and put in a museum.

Never, Never, Never....Accept the Upload

Just a few hours ago I bragged on Facebook that I had successfully connected my blu-ray/DVD player to access Netflix. I even watched a Hal Holbrook movie about an elderly fellow who escaped from the nursing home only to discover his son had leased his farm to a less that stellar individual.

Following the movie I was surfing around to see what other treasure awaited me via this new technology when "an updated version is available, do you want to upload at this time" appeared on my screen. Now, please understand, I never, repeat NEVER, accept these opportunities. When that pop up appears I just cancel it and go on. I have no excuse or explanation as to why I responded, YES. Following the acceptance of this 'upgrade' I was no longer able to access Netflix. When I clicked on 'Premium' the dotted circle just kept on going and going and going and going.............

Friday morning I called the LG helpline. The lady was very pleasant, but not very helpful. After about 45 minutes of her having me repeat everything I had already tried (disconnecting, changing televisions, rebooting my router, etc, etc, etc, she decided she needed to access a bigger brain than hers, but alas, this bigger brain had not yet arrived at work. She would call me back later in the day. The day progressed with nary a phone call.

I picked Griffin up to spend the night. I have several Thomas movies on DVD so he wasn't too inconvenienced by not being able to use Netflix. I again tried to access Netflix, but the dotted circle just kept on circling. I changed Televisions thinking it would reboot and fix whatever I had messed up by accepting the 'update'. The dotted circle just kept on circling.

I again called the LG helpline and the saga began. She had me disconnect and reconnect everything. Nothing happened.


She had me disconnect the wireless and connect to wired. This sounds easy, but involved me moving the blu-ray/DVD player from downstairs to upstairs where the cable comes into the house. I had to then disconnect the Ethernet cable from the wireless router and attache to the blu-ray player, which involved getting pliers from the basement as my fingers could not apply enough pressure to the devise to disconnect it from the router. Once that was accomplished I discovered the upstairs TV did not accept the technology I needed. It would not display the information from the Blu ray/DVD Player because the remote did not have an option to adjust the 'input'. I moved the kids 13 inch TV from their bedroom to my bedroom and tried to connect it to the Blu-ray/DVD player. Unfortunately, is was too old and would only connect to the white and yellow connectors. It did not have a port for the red one and would not display the picture. So, I went back downstairs and brought a 19 inch upstairs to see if it would connect. As I was dragging it upstairs Griffin looked out from the playroom and said, "That's a big one, Grandma."

Once I had it in the bedroom connected to power and the Blu-ray DVD player (which was connected via a wired connection) I was again in business to figure out what why the dotted circle just kept on circling. The LG lady had me again go through the process of disconnecting/connecting and checking and again the dotted circle just kept on circling.

She then put me on hold to talk to another 'technician'. They decided the problem was the 'update' I had accepted. The good news is that I can retrieve the correct version and reinstall it into my Blu-ray/DVD player by using my computer and a thumb drive.

Next Problem: Since I have disconnected my wireless, my laptop would not connect to the Internet. Back downstairs to retrieve my broadband air connection. The first thumb drive I tried didn't work. Back downstairs to get another one. She had me connect to the LG site and talked me through to the 'download this software' option. It took about 30 minutes to download to my computer. (Griffin is in the bath tub by this time.) Then I had to transfer the software to my thumb drive, which only took about 10 minutes. Next was to move the thumb drive to the USB port on my Blu Ray player and transfer the correct version back to my device.

It actually worked!! And I will never accept an 'upgrade' again.

Griffin was able to watch TWO Thomas movies from Netflix and happily went to bed.

Lost and Found

Charlie has made remarkable progress the past couple of weeks and when the colleague I was supposed to orient in Florida canceled, he decided he would come with me. The problem was that I couldn't get him a seat on my plane, so he was on a different airline. I left Kansas City around 9:30 and changed planes in Dallas, and arrived in Palm Beach around 5:30. He was to leave, on Delta, at 11 AM, change planes in Atlanta and arrive in Palm Beach around 5. I told him he would get there first and to get his luggage and wait for me there.

I texted him from Dallas and said my plane was going to be about 20 minutes late and gave him the airline and flight number, so he could check it. I thought it was strange I didn't hear back from him, but figured he was on the plane. When I landed in Palm Beach I called. He didn't answer. I walked through the concourse keeping an eye out for him and then to the luggage claim area. No Charlie anywhere. I called again. He didn't answer. I fetched my luggage, then looked for him again. The signs said his flight had arrived. I walked the length of the area looking at everyone and calling. Still no answer. (All in all, I called him 15 times with no answer.)

I was starting to get worried and went to the Delta ticketing counter to ask if they could tell me if he made the connection in Atlanta. They said they cannot give out passenger information, but why don't I try having him paged. I used the courtesy phone and had him paged to the luggage area. I returned and sat for 15 minutes. No Charlie. I decided to go pick up the car and come back, so I wouldn't have to continue to drag my luggage around and could cover ground faster. I continued to call and leave messages. Once back at the airport I quickly walked all three floors and checked out the two remaining restaurants that were open. No Charlie. I sat down for a while and tried to figure out what to do. I finally called Chuck and told him the story and asked him to see what he could find out. Meantime I would go to the hotel on the off chance he had taken a taxi.

Chuck called back with no information, but said he was pretty sure he would turn up. I gave Molly all the flight information and asked her to see what she could find out. She was able to get a somewhat affirmative response that he had made the connection and arrived in Palm Beach. OKAY! Now I know I only have one geographic area in which to hunt.

I was on the phone with Molly, when a call beeped in from a number I didn't recognize. By the time I tried to get it it was too late. I immediately started to call it back, but it rang again and, yes, it was Charlie. He was in a taxi driving around West Palm Beach looking for the hotel. Only problem is that the hotel was in Boca Raton. I gave him the address and he finally arrived, about three hours later than the initial plan. I asked him why he hadn't called sooner, he left his phones in Kansas City and couldn't remember my phone number. He had finally called Chuck and asked him if he knew the number. (Chuck wanted to know why he hadn't called Chuck sooner.) He arrived a bit rattled and $80 dollars poorer. I'm sure the taxi driver had quite the story to tell his family when he got home! I listened to the message he had left me on the first call. He said, "Hi, Sarah, this is Charlie Trump and I'm lost. I forgot the name of the hotel, and I forgot my phones."

I asked him why he didn't just sit down at the luggage carousel and wait for me. He said his plane was late and he figured I had already arrived....."And you thought I would just go off and leave you?" We now have pact that we never leave the luggage carousel unless we know where the other one is. Hopefully, we will be able to travel on the same airplane from now on.

Today he went to AT&T and bought his third I phone.