Catching Up

I got into a great posting groove a couple weeks ago and impressed even myself with my consistency through Christmas craziness. New Year's craziness did me in, though, and I know at least my mom is complaining of being blog-deprived.

Since my last post we had a fabulous long weekend in DC with my mom celebrating Christmas after our canceled trip to Vermont (note to self: never fly through Philly in the winter).

We hit a lot of major DC attractions, but Tucker told me on the way home that his favorite part of the trip (after GoGo's Christmas presents) was the hotel's swimming pool, complimentary breakfast and the picnic he had on the floor of our room one night. He did have some epic breakfasts--one day he ate three pancakes, four sausage links, cereal and two cups of juice. The next day he finagled FIVE sausage links from me and a chocolate doughnut. The day that we went to the Air and Space museum, he was almost too distracted to enjoy the museum because he knew we had a cup of Fruit Loops in the stroller (which we only took out of breakfast that morning so that the kid would agree to leave his hour-long feast!).

Tucker loved seeing the dinosaur bones at the Natural History Museum--I think it cemented in his mind what dinosaurs are, and how big they are (he watches Dinosaur Train on PBS so he is beginning to really like dinosaurs). His favorite out-of-the-hotel activity was riding the carousel on the national mall, though.



Tucker has aged well in the past couple weeks and developed facial hair.

Enjoying Christmas with my mom.






But that is only part one of our recent adventures. We've been planning on getting a new car by the Spring, but the trip to DC made me get very serious about replacing my Civic with something bigger. With a stroller, a pack-n-play, two kids, a husband, all our bags and Christmas presents, we were simply busting out of the car. And that is without trying to fit the dog! Our criteria for a car was pretty simple: good mileage (over 20 mpg), three rows of seats, AWD, not a minivan, and (preferably) blue, red or green. Unfortunately, there is only one car that meets all those requirements in our price range (or at least what we wanted to spend): the Ford Freestyle.

As I was looking at Freestyles online, I found a low-mileage Freestyle (only 15,000 miles) in Annapolis. Our area of Virginia suffers from a severe dearth of Freestyles, so neither of us had actually even looked inside a Freestyle much less driven it when we trudged up to Annapolis to potentially buy the car. But it was the perfect car on paper, so it was worth a try.

While Molly gazed adoringly at Tucker at Austin's parents' house in Annapolis (see below) we went out to brave the used car lot. After getting worked up all week about the bargaining process, it was actually splendidly simple. A family friend who knows cars better than us checked it out with us, he declared it a great car. Then we told the guy inside the empty dealership we liked it and what could he do for us? He said he could do $1100 off the list price. We were just about speechless as the list price was already really good and we would've paid full price if necessary. So Austin stammered something about replacing the two back tires which are showing a little wear. The salesman said no. So Austin said he'd pay him cash right now if he would do $1300 off. And it was done. It took approximately two minutes.



Our new car


Bonus pictures of Molly

Coolest Plumbing Gadget Ever

We have one of those old bath tubs whose drain stopper has long ago been lost. This bothers me. The plastic drain plug (we've tried a couple different types) doesn't stay in when the tub is filling and so I have to bend over and hold it down until the water is at least an inch high. Annoying.

Anyway, this is the "Flip-It Tub Stopper" that you permanently insert into the drain and that you can just switch open or closed. It fits most standard tubs (even our old one--nothing in our house is standard...). Plus, it was about $10 on Amazon. I am excited by small things.

I fought the phone and I (finally) won... I think

All of you probably know that I'm not a phone person, and even more than that, am definitely not a cell phone person. I'm one of those people that really shouldn't ever give out a cell number, because people assume that if I have a cell than I check your cell. Ha! Sheer craziness.

With Austin's work in high gear, his cell phone minutes have gone through the roof and he has needed to switch his work phone onto his company's network, which left me the sole member of our family plan.

Cell companies don't cater to people like me: people who use maybe 50 minutes a month (without trying to conserve), who almost never text, and have no aspirations to use a Blackberry/iPhone/etc.

The companies that DO cater to people like me are the prepaid cell carriers, which apparently are going more mainstream for those of us low-techies. So, a few weeks ago I researched companies and made the plunge to go with a prepaid Tracfone. I bought a phone, activated it, put on a year's worth of service and minutes for what would have been less than four month's of the cost of my part of our old plan.

And then I figured out that my phone barely gets reception in our house, or in the tiny town right nearby (where we spend a lot of our mornings). I also found out that only the phone was returnable, but the minutes/year's service was not--which of course made up the huge bulk of what I had paid for. Conclusion: I needed to get a Tracfone cell that got better reception.

It turns out that better reception Tracphone cells exist. Tracphone has two different wireless networks that they buy time on, the GSM network and the CDMA network. The CDMA network works everywhere; the GSM network does not. BUT the GSM network is cheaper for Tracphone to operate on so their policy is not to cell a consumer a CDMA phone if they are located in a zipcode that a GSM one will work. Conclusion: I needed a CDMA phone.

It turned out that getting Tracphone to sell me a CDMA phone was next to impossible. According to Tracfone's maps, I had adequate service--which is true, in some parts of our zipcode... but not true in the rural part of the zipcode that I live in. I was on the phone with customer service a total of SIX AND A HALF HOURS over the course of five different phone calls in order to successfully get a CDMA phone activated with the minutes and service I already bought. I am not exaggerating; it was totally absurd, and awful beyond description.

The lowpoint of everything was after three phone calls and three hours and forty-five minutes on the phone I got them to send me a new phone which they promised would be the different kind that I needed--and instead they sent me the EXACT same phone I already had. I then had to call back customer service and spent another TWO AND A HALF hours on the phone with them in one sitting getting them to send me the right CDMA phone.

I have never encountered a company with this level of inept customer service. I mean, does it really take an hour and a half to reset a cell phone and check it out on the phone to make sure its settings are correct? Do you really need to require ALL technical phone calls begin with this step--even those customers that can prove with a case ID that they've already gone through this step--before proceeding with the issue at hand?

Anyway, I finally have a new, activated cell phone with the minutes I paid for. I feel victorious having triumped over the machine. I also find it funny that Tracfone was so inept in our last conversation that they accidentally doubled the number of days of service I have, so I got something for my pain. But absolutely nothing is worth the six plus hours of agony I suffered on the phone. I mean, have you ever hear of a 2 1/2 hour customer service call??????

Citrus mouthwash

When I bought us some new mouthwash the other day, I knew Austin would raise a stink about my new choice in flavors - citrus. It was the only flavor available in the generic brand, and I thought, what the heck?

I don't think it's too bad. It's a bit like orange soda meets mouthwash, which is to say, bizarre. But not necessarily bizarre in a bad way. According to Austin it's like brushing your teeth and drinking orange juice at the same time, which is to say, awful.

It took us at least 3 months to go through our last bottle, probably more. That's a lot of time for Austin to learn to like it. :)

Why not to buy a Dell laptop

In case anyone is in the market for a new laptop, I strongly suggest not buying a Dell. I have an almost-two year old Dell laptop, with what seems to be a very common Dell defect that they are not admitting is a systematic defect. This defect also can't be fixed with anything short of a new motherboard.

Fortunately, the defect is relatively minor: the computer tells me it doesn't recognize my AC adaptor and so although it will power the computer, it won't charge my battery.

If you google Dell AC adaptors not being recognized, you realize quickly that you are in VERY good company. Apparently this is a really common problem with Dells, partly because they put special chips in their AC adaptors so that laptops can't use third party replacement adaptors. It seems like this special chip has the propensity to mess up the process of the computer recognizing even a Dell adaptor.

It's one thing to make a faulty product. It's another thing to ignore the issue, even after it's been demonstrated to be a basic hardware problem. I also take issue with Dell's customer service. Although they construct their computers to only be able to use Dell replacement parts, ordering from Dell is a nightmare. Both times I've ordered from Dell they have repeatedly (like 3-4 times each order) pushed back the ship date. I've never had another company do this.

Of course, I did buy my computer for less than half of what it costs to buy a Mac, so I still think I am coming out ahead in the Mac vs PC battle. Just, next time, it'll be Acer or Toshiba or Compaq or Gateway or HP... anything but Dell.

Coming into the 21st century

I workout at the local YMCA, and am always careful to lock everything up and not leave things around. It's a friendly place, but I remember that one time as a kid that my mom's keys got stolen at our YMCA in Vermont.

Anyway, I like to jog on the treadmill and then lift weights, but it means I have a great music player hanging around while I lift, and it's a pain to have to move it every time I move stations (there are three separate, connecting rooms that make up the weight room). I usually end up carrying it, and leave nothing to chance.

When I say "music player," I actually mean a Sony sports walkman. Yes, a walkman. One that plays cassette tapes. It still looks shiny and yellow and black and REALLY nice. I think of it as really nice, as a really desirable object to steal, if stealing was your thing.

It dawned on me the other day what an anachronism that walkman is. If it was stolen, who could it possibly be resold to? Realistically, it is probably one of those things a thief would laugh at (that, or wonder what it was).

In other news from the YMCA, I had a bizarre interaction with a nice elderly lady in the locker room. This woman goes regularly to "Happy Ducks" the senior aquatics class that meets at just the time I always end up working out. We have a nice routine of smiling at each other and saying "have a nice day." Well, out of the blue she came up to me and asked if I liked jokes. I said that I did. And then she proceeded to tell me the dirtiest joke I've heard in several years. I would share it, just to express how bizarre the whole thing was, but the joke is really not fit to be repeated. I'm still not sure what I make of it, except that I think she wanted to impress or befriend me????

I am Wii-tarded

I hung out with some college friends yesterday and what did we do? Yes, we played Wii. It seems a bit odd that our ladies day out in Old Town Alexandria basically entailed eating and Wii... but it was entertaining, totally out of the box for me, and gave me a sliver of understanding of what people are talking about when they talk about the game.

I've never played before, and I am horrible. In MarioKart, a race car game, I generally was only able to complete one lap of a three lap race before everyone else finished. I watched my character die 1000 creative deaths. I think every time I finished last, the character shook her head and said "oh my!" My sentiments exactly.

I enjoyed tennis and bowling a lot more, and was not quite as terribly bad at them. But I don't feel any need to work on my abilities, much less play Wii ever again. I do come by my pop culture ignorance honestly. And without cable, renting movies, or anything like that, I don't see that ignorance changing any time soon.

Also, on a totally random tangent, the two friends I hung out with yesterday are both named Emily. And both of their significant others are named Matt. Weird, huh?

This is the car saga that never ends

My car is getting lonely. It has been spending a lot of time at the mechanic's. Actually, to be exact, it has been on five separate trips to three different mechanics over the past three weeks, and it still is not fixed. Supposedly this time it will be different... I guess we'll find out on Monday.

My car is not having a subtle problem. The problem is that when it first starts up, when you press the gas pedal, it doesn't go. So, I pull out onto the road, and suddenly the car won't move forward. Big problem. Thankfully the problem goes away after a couple of minutes, but I have taken to driving around parking lots several times before going onto the road and other such tricks, to avoid us getting killed.

So, we took it to the first mechanic, who had it for a full week. He replaced the computer in the car. But as I pulled out of the shop at the end of the day on Friday, the car wouldn't go, and I glided back into the parking lot. I did make it home, but back we went to the shop first thing Monday.

Apparently my car only dislikes me because mechanic #1 couldn't get it to hesitate for him. We took it home and crossed our fingers, but soon found ourselves at shop #2.

Shop #2 diagnosed the problem, but said that it only could be fixed by the dealer's $15,000 computer that could reprogram things.

Shop #3 (the dealer) claimed that there is no such error code as my car gave Shop #2. They couldn't find a problem with the car, and wouldn't run any diagnostics based on my or the other shop's information.

So we call Shop #2 and they said that actually they COULD fix it, but they just thought it was a recall issue and the dealer would have to. But wait, since it's not under warranty, it doesn't matter.

Are you confused yet? Annoyed? Me too.

I'm just so thankful that between Austin's spray truck for work and Helen and David last week, that Tucker and I haven't been stranded at home much at all.

Best Baby Products Ever

I have all these friends right now who are expecting, and I have been reflecting on the neatest baby products we've come across so far. You know, the things you wouldn't necessarily think of, but are really ingenious.

Gerber Lil' Snacking Bowl - toddlers can put their hand through the flexible lid into this bowl so that snack time in the car isn't always disastrous.

The Nosefrieda - This one is really obscure, but those little nasal aspirators never worked for Tucker when he was congested. This ingenious little device looks a little suspect hygenically (because you actually suction the mucous out with a long tube)... after using it, trust me, it is totally wonderful.

Roebeez - I'm such a fan of those little leather shoes that stay on infants' feet no matter what. NOTHING else does the job like them (the generic brands at Target are great, though!).

Washable bib - This may not seem like brain surgery, but think how many bibs you go throughout a week? A lot. Helen found a plastic bib that you just sponge off and voila, back to new.

Bebe au lait - Okay, I never actually used this, but it's a "nursing cover" and looks great and is definitely something I would get for a baby shower gift. (It's closely related to the Hooter Hider....)

I'm sure I'm forgetting other things, and will add to this list as inspiration strikes me.