At Least It's Less $$ Now That There's A Newer Model

[howeird]

Last things first. Went outside after dinner, dusk, to water the roses. While reeling in the hose and leaning down to tuck the sprayer under the reel, my cell phone fell out of my pocket and the screen smashed into many spider web patterns. The bad news is the image doesn't come on at all. The good news is it powers up, and I was able to backup all the data. And the other good-ish news is replacement units are available for about $200 less than what I paid when this was the latest model, because there is a newer model now.

So instead of my day starting with no clear plan for the morning,  I will be going to the Mountain View Best Buy. My OCD is injured by this somewhat, because the original plan was to go to MV at 5 for coffee with Janice, after taking the feline in for shots on the other end of Sunnyvale. I dislike going back and forth.

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Which is what I did today, thanks to the GPS' out of date database.

But let's back up to morning. I got up and out just in time to walk to the new park about 6 blocks away for the grand opening. People with children in tow, in strollers, in backpacks, on their shoulders, etc. were pouring out of CondoHell on the side of the street across from the mobile home parks. Not many of us old folks, though.

All I knew about this park is it included the bike/walking trail which has been there for years, and there was a kid's slide in the shape of a dragon. Boy, was I in for a surprise. They have built the most comprehensive open air recreation center evah.

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Last things first. Went outside after dinner, dusk, to water the roses. While reeling in the hose and leaning down to tuck the sprayer under the reel, my cell phone fell out of my pocket and the screen smashed into many spider web patterns. The bad news is the image doesn't&nbsp;come on at all. The&nbsp;good news is it powers up, and I was able to backup all the data. And the other good-ish news is&nbsp;replacement units are available for about $200 less than what I paid when this was the latest model, because there is a newer model now.

So instead of my day starting with no clear plan for the morning, &nbsp;I will be going to the Mountain View Best Buy. My OCD is injured by this somewhat, because the original plan was to go to MV at 5 for coffee with Janice, after taking the feline in for shots on the other end of Sunnyvale. I dislike going back and forth.
<HR>Which is what I did today, thanks to the GPS' out of date database.

But let's back up to morning. I got up and out just in time to walk to the new park about 6 blocks away for the grand opening. People with children in tow, in strollers, in backpacks, on their shoulders, etc. were pouring out of CondoHell on the side of the street across from the mobile home parks. Not many of us old folks, though.

All I knew about this park is it included the bike/walking trail which has been there for years, and there was a kid's slide in the shape of a dragon. Boy, was I in for a surprise. They have built the most comprehensive open air recreation center evah.

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<A title="_HS17390 by Howard Stateman, on Flickr" href="about:<a href=" 14637339034? how3ird photos www.flickr.com https:><IMG alt=_HS17390 src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2909/14637339034_4048eedf7f_h.jpg" width=600></A>
Chimes (there are four different sets around the park)

</A><IMG title="" src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2911/14659416913_0ed0ab9162_z.jpg" width=640>
Faux driftwood play area

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Sea themed&nbsp;Teeter Totter

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Another chime set

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Pirate ship slide (the dragon is on the other side)

<IMG alt="" src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2918/14637341264_615a06f3bd_z.jpg" height=640>
The other side

<IMG title="" src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2910/14639085392_5c6cdcfd80_z.jpg" height=640>
Big splash thingie, one of several ways to get wet in the park

<IMG title="" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3911/14452856480_30e6dbae25_z.jpg" width=640>
Basketball half-court

<IMG title="" src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2922/14616532396_39f7b18e3a_z.jpg" width=640>
Tennis court

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Dog park

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The other 270 or so photos are <A href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/how3ird/sets/72157645654474214/" target=_blank>here</A>. There is a huge grass playing field, a sandbox area, separate swings for kids and toddlers, lots of parking, lots of drought-friendly landscaping&nbsp; with all underground, recycled&nbsp;irrigation.

All this time I thought they were building more condos.
<HR>After a quick lunch I was off to Valley Fair Mall, which has the Travelex foreign exchange kiosk.

On the way there I punched for the nearest UPS store in the GPS database, and it sent me about two miles down Winchester, so a place which may have had one in the distant past, but is now a couple of seedy massage parlors and some other Asian small businesses.

The next nearest UPS was on the way home, so I went to the mall. My pounds and euros were assembled and waiting for me. Unlike the bills they gave me at The Great Mall's CEX booth, these are all pristine notes, uncirculated, no gangsta tags on them. Mostly 20s, but some 10s and 5s, so I'll be just fine.

Celebrated with a napolean at the newly remodeled food court. They have made it very posh, and have kicked out some name brands (McD's, Sbarro, etc.) and replaced them with one-offs. There is more seating, arranged much more sensibly than before, which translates as I had a very nice view and there was a lot to see.

I would have liked to stay longer, but the UPS closes at 5, and it took 20 minutes to get to. Once there, dropped off the two RMAs for Amazon and got a receipt. Amazon already credited the refunds, but they will have to add to one because they had split up an order, and I had canceled the second part but they sent it anyway. So the RMA is for 6 units, and they are getting back 10. Or something like that.
<HR>Home, the Zerowater filtered dispenser for the fridge was delivered, so I set that up, and pulled out the non-filtered one. It will go into the shed with the emergency stuff. The new one is in the fridge. Yesterday's pitcher is kept at room temp for the sourdough experiment, which was not a WIN because the recipe was wrong for rye. Not a problem, nothing hurt except time, it just needed enough water to make it not a solid. So I added water, and more flour. Maybe tomorrow there will be yeastness.<HR>Processed the park photos and uploaded them. Played online a bit. Dinner was a pair of Red Baron personal pan pizzas, followed by strawberries and coffee ice cream.
<HR>Attempted to work on the weekend's Big Project: Putting all my T-shirts on hangers instead of folded and crammed into shelves in the closet. The plan was:

1. Pull out all the T-shirts from the left side of the closet
2. Remove the shelves
3. Cannibalize hanger rods from the office closet
4. Install them in the bedroom closet
5. Repeat for the right side of the closet

Showstopper at #4. The previous owner had the closet inserts custom made, and while the bedroom has two 30-inch-wide sections, the office has a 31", a 27" and a 14". &nbsp;While the sections can move left and right along the main slider (after a couple of screws are loosened) there is no way to make the 30" sections wide enough to take the 31" rods.

So now my bed is full of T-shirts and I need to pick up a pair of spring-loaded rods which can adjust to a 30" closet space.<HR>Caught up on the Book of Face, and here I am.

Plans for tomorrow:
Best Buy - replace the phone
BB&amp;B - buy a pair of 30" spring-loaded clothes/curtain rods
Domino shots
Janice coffee