I'm Back

No blogs for about three weeks -- we lost the computer and have had a San Diego break in the meantime.

Mom is doing well. She is really amazing -- walking much better, able to lift that pesky right leg into the car with no assistance -- and will probably be up dancing a jig by the time I see her again. She is taking an exercise class at Belmont Village and will probably be participating in even more of the many activities as her hip continues to heal.

We got lots of the possessions she can't take with her boxed and four large boxes went to the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop while we were there. Other groups of boxes are packed and ready for Goodwill (standards not as high as ACS), for Pam and I to take home, and to store for mom to use at a later date. A lovely weaver named Mimi came to her house and worked very hard for two days to finish the towel project -- then took the loom away to give it a good home. Alex, Pam and I helped her load the loom into the heavy-duty rental van and she assured us that she has a couple of fairly burly neighbors to help her unload and shift it into her own house. The three of us really weren't sure we could move it (do you have any idea how much looms weigh?) and we felt like superheroes once it was in the van. Mimi always had more faith. Mom's Dodge van was also a donated item, and went to Jewish Family Services. This won't be the last working trip to San Diego, but much was accomplished.

Now for my computer (#%@*). A few days before we were to leave it simply decided that I was to no longer use the Internet. It gave me a series of excuses, including the fact that I was using the wrong browser for Verizon -- not sure what that has to do with my strictly AT&T connection. After a futile hour on the phone with tech support they told me that the problem wasn't with them, and that for $99 they would try to solve it from India or wherever they are these days. I declined their kind offer and took it to a local firm that employs some young computer geeks. For $85 they checked it out and decided it needed to have the hard drive erased and redone (not the proper terminology). It ended out costing more than $99 (not that much more) all-in-all, but they backed up my files, erased everything -- including some viruses that AT&T's security software had allowed to get through -- redid the hard drive, and put on new and better security software. It took a few days and I just really have it back up and running now. It was ready while we we in SD.

We also had one fun day and a good lunch while we were there. More in a later blog.