The Last Three Days

I have been in hell.  Three days ago my IPhone would not take my password for Yahoo mail.  Marty called Yahoo for me and they tried and nothing.  I had been hacked.  They recommended two Microsoft security  companies.  One takes your computer and phone for 10 days for X amount of $$$.  The second company does everything on the phone by remotely controlling your computer for X amount of $$$.  The service is good for a year for the three of us using the same Internet hookup. We went with the phone people.

Five hours later the tech has cleaned my computer, Marty's and our host's computers.  They have fixed the IPhone problem.  Great happiness.

The next day, 12/23/12 I changed my passwords.  We were out the rest of the day, but surprise I can't access my email.  Password rejected, not valid, does not work.  I am back on the phone that night.  Same tech gets me, he breathes a little harder, but was nice and polite.  We loaded and canceled the yahoo account 8 million times.  Never worked.  Another tech will call me sometime Christmas Eve.  I lost it.  Fix it now, he couldn't.  He wanted an expert IPhone tech to help me.  I insisted on the call being at 8:00 a.m. PST.  It is Christmas Eve, we have things to do.

I was called this morning on the dot of 8:00.  One hour later of doing everything I have done before, he took over my computer, did things to my Yahoo account, canceled my password, and we put in a new one.  Back to the phone.  We set up a new account again, and this time it worked.  Why, who knows?  Why did it not work the other gazillion times, no one knows.  It works and I am have quit drinking, crying, and screaming.

We are off to San Francisco to look at Christmas decorations. 

Weddings on Wednesday

Wednesday I had high hopes for a busy time doing marriage ceremonies.  No such luck.  I did very few marriages.

I had two weddings that were Hispanic.  They each had lots of family attending the wedding.  The one thing they both had in common, hovering fathers. 

The fathers of the brides at each wedding were in my face, right beside me, trying to make decisions about the ceremonies, asking questions, grabbing for the paperwork.  The couples were not 18 year old babies marrying.  Both couples were in their mid twenties.  Plus if they are marrying, then they need to handle the legalities and decisions by themselves. You know I didn’t pay much attention to the fathers.  I was polite, but the couples’ wishes are all I consider and the ones getting the paperwork.

I checked a license and then looked over the souvenir certificate.  There was an error on the souvenir certificate.  These are not computer generated.  They are on fancy paper with  blanks spaces to type in the date and place, the names of the couple, witnesses’ info, and Marriage commissioner’s name. I took it back to Clerk K.  She groaned and said, “ I have trouble using a typewriter.  I’d never seen a typewriter until I took this job. I have trouble figuring out how to line up the spaces to fill in the blanks.”

Think about it.  When is the last time you used a typewriter?  This young woman is 23 years old.  She and many of the other clerks have never lived in a world without computers.  There are very very few instances today when typewriters are used.  Try to think of a need for a typewriter.  Let me know if you think of something. 

OVER BUT STILL WAITING

We have a new President elect. Who ever you voted for and however you feel, at least the 2 years of campaigning is over. No more robo calls or 100's of ads in the mail and on TV. I was very impressed with the grace and class of McCain's concession speech. It was the first time I could see what his followers saw in him. We have a new leader and now can move forward together as both Obama and McCain asked.



But we still are waiting on Prop 8. It is too close to call. So we wait.



As a side note: The computer is fixed. Lovely Marty kept on it and suddenly I had wireless again. I am really happy and have quit muttering curse words at the machine. We don't know why the modem wouldn't recognize my computer nor why it now does. But I am out of the foyer and can work in any room of the house.

I HATE COMPUTERS. ON THE ELECTION

There will be two themes for this post tonight. First I must vent. We arrived home safely from our trip. (That will be another post. ) I wanted to write about my thoughts on the election. I turned on my laptop and the dumb thing didn't and still doesn't recognize our wireless system. Every time we travel and change settings to pick up wireless elsewhere, my computer goes wacko. My husband has worked over an hour trying to reset all those numbers and letters, and passwords. Nothing. So I am hardwired into the modem in the foyer, two extension cords are connected to get me power from the kitchen, the computer is on a card table and I am sitting on a kitchen chair. Foul nasty words!!! I hate it when this machine gets me so ticked off. I have stomped around saying really ugly words. And I am still mad. I truly hate machines that don't behave. Oh my husband's laptop you ask? As soon as he turned it on it switched back to our wireless. Not Fair!



Now to the important stuff.



Tuesday is election day. Whatever your beliefs go vote. You can't keep a democracy by sitting home. And if you don't vote, don't complain about the country and politicians in front of me. Yes, as an American you have the right to free speech, but just not in front of me. I have the right to not want to hear you.



I am extremely worried about one issue Tuesday. Will the civil rights of Gays be taken away from them? Will the bigots win? If this California constitutional issue passes, when does it take effect? Will it erase the same sex marriages already done? Will Tuesday be the last time I can marry same sex couples? If someone has a license that is valid for the next 90 days, can we still marry them after Tuesday if Prop 8 wins? We have heard a lot of opinions on these questions, but no one seems to have the legal answers. I keep hoping these questions won't come up because Prop 8 will be defeated. I am hoping.