Month: January 2011

I Can Scan With a Little Help From My Friends

I have learned SO much, today, about how to use Digital Credit Union’s deposit-from-your-computer function.  Over the course of the day, I’ve gone from total frustration and a gazillion failed attempts, to a string to of two successes in a row, using the hints that came from my friends on Facebook!

Here’s the deal: When you hit the “scan” button, the DCU function controls the scanning settings, and is really stupid, with few options.  Over and over, it could not detect the proper size of the back AND the image was too light.

So this is what works: scan the checks to a file (one front, one back) first.  My superprinter does that quickly and well, with default settings.  Then run PC Deposit, choosing the file option.  It worked!

I got this idea from Rita, who said change the scan settings.  PC Deposit won’t let you change settings but my scanner figured it out automatically!  Judy said put a dot in every corner and that may have helped, I’ll try it without next time and see.  Both of these ideas came from Facebook, within hours, and I would never have figured this out on my own.

Thanks, friends!

Trail of Heavenly Snow

I learned that some wonderful person/organization actually grooms the New Boston Rail Trail for cross-country skiing!

Caren and I went as a lunch break, happy that at least one other skier had laid down tracks ahead of us, but when we met up with him near the official trailhead, he told us that someone from New Boston (Parks & Rec?) was grooming the trail ahead.  Sure enough, there was a snowmobile (usually none are allowed) doing multiple passes, dragging a thing that grooming laid down an surface from skiing heaven!

Home Sweet Office

I have learned, again and again and again, that I love working at home.

I do love going into the office, seeing my friends and colleagues, and having that in-person connection during meetings.  I also like the Big City and much of the commute.  It’s still a kick to work in Boston.

But it’s hard to beat the added value of the extra five to six hours I get in my day when I work from home.  Between the extra I can put in at work and the extra I can keep, it feels like winning an extra day in my day!

Managing Gadget Coexistence

I have learned that my iPod and my heart rate monitor do not play well together.

It’s just a little Nano, and it doesn’t look like it would cause much interference, but sure enough, if I wear it at my waist, the receivers show all kinds of whacky numbers.

If I move the Nano to the treadmill (where Planet Fitness is cool enough to have an iPod-specific connector!), then the watch-receiver gives good numbers but the treadmill display gets confused.  If I turn the iPod off, the watch and the treadmill both show the right numbers.

I have also learned that I really don’t need a heart rate monitor, because I can look at a number and say “that’s not right!”.  I basically know my heart rate as I exercise, from all these years of learning how each rate feels.

But I love gadgets, so it’s nice to know how to make them work.

Lessons from Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. through the eyes of my Facebook friends on this day and then a story about my grandmother.

Patti posted: ‎”Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” -MLK

Judy posted: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”– Martin Luther King, Jr.

Tim posted: “If a man doesn’t have a job or an income, he has neither life nor liberty nor the possibility for the pursuit of happiness. He merely exists.”

Cindy posted:”‎”I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
My Grandma Sara (1899-1998) claimed that she was right up there, standing with King during his “I have a dream” speech.  Since Grandma was 4 feet 10 1/2 inches, she really would have to have been in front for this to be recorded in history.  We have not seen it.  Did she really mean she was literally up on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial?  Or that she stood by him and his beliefs?  We’ll never know, but we got the message just the same.
Sally recounted this story (first) in her blog:  http://sallyandthecity.com/2011/01/18/music-monday-yes-we-can/

New Phones All Around!

I learned that even though Verizon is ditching their “new phone every two years” plan, they will still honor discounts already earned by sticking with your old crappy phone for two years or more.

And I learned that if you get a heavily discounted phone and sign up your adult children for two more years, it doesn’t mean you are committed to keeping them on your plan.  They can move their contract to their own deal without penalty, at any time.

Learning to Fall

I have to start this one with a story from a long time ago.  But maybe you were there?  Leave a comment if you were.

Some time around 1970, my family went to Greenville, Maine for a ski vacation.  Each of us kids got to bring a friend and we did the downhill ski thing, as did my dad.  My mom, however, signed up for a cross-country ski lesson, which was a radical and brave thing for her, since she was not athletic or active in any way that I can remember.

At her first lesson, she told the instructor “I hear that you are going to teach us how to get up when we fall”.  A friend had told her this, and it had given her great comfort and security in this adventure.  “Sure,” he said, “When you fall, I’ll teach you how to get up.”  “But I want to learn now”, my mother insisted.  “We’ll get to that when you fall”, he repeated.  Shlomp!  Down she went!  “OK” she said.  “Teach me now”.  And he did.

Fast forward to this day in 2011:

I went cross-country skiing with my sister, Lava, on my new fast skis.  Fast.  Really fast!  I went down a Black Diamond hill that was not fast at all the last time we did it in starting-to-melt slow snow.  But on this day, it was 12 degrees and the snow was fast and my skis are fast.  All fast.  I hit something – it may be the half-foot divot we looked back at (or maybe I made that one) or maybe it was something else, but I landed directly on my face.  It hurt!  I put my poles uphill and got myself up and kept skiing on this cold sunny day.

A while later, I did it again!  I landed on my face again! It didn’t hurt as much, and I got up more easily.

The next times I fell (my new skis are fast, I tell you!) were farther apart, and each fall was easier and each time I popped up more quickly.

Like my mom, I learned how to fall, and I learned how to get up.  Now I just need to learn how to ski a little better!

Bonus lesson: I learned how apt the term “face plant” is!

Here is the bottom part of the first hill.  Yes, it looks like a bunny slope, and it would be on downhill skis, but on fast cold snow, it was a challenge on cross-country skis!

Taxi Lesson 2: No Faster

I should know this by now.  I’ve learned it before.  More than once.   In the last year, alone.

This lesson: To get across the middle of Boston is not necessarily faster by taxi than by walking and the T.

It takes me 45 minutes to get from Fenway to South Station, including walking through Chinatown.  If I need to do it without the walk, then it’s two trains and I need to allow a little longer.  It takes me at least that long from Longwood, as well.

So, one might think that a taxi for this distance, would be shorter, right?  I mean, it is about 3 miles, after all.

Nope.  In rush hour, you can fly through some parts, or not, but the area around South Station is bound to be gridlock.   And it’s the kind of gridlock that leaves you watching the traffic lights and your watch and your odds of making the bus all change before your eyes, without moving at all.

Which brings me to TWO extra bonus lessons for the day:

1. When you are sitting in a taxi within site of your destination and you are not moving, GET OUT and start walking already!

2. Never make plans that matter what time you arrive, for after a Boston commute day.  This was one of the first lessons in this blog, but I guess I forgot it and need to learn it yet again.  And maybe again.

Taxi Lesson 1: Cash or Charge

Two work days, two taxis to the bus, two lessons (at least).  Today’s: If you choose the charge option in the taxi, the driver gets a  smaller tip than if you pay with cash, even though you thought you chose the tip.  The charge machine people and the banks get the difference!

One driver told me that it’s 6% of the total charge for the use of a card, and that it all comes out of his tip.   I can find a few places online that say the same.

I have always thought that the tip calculator in the machine tends us all to higher tips, but not that much higher!

Old Poodle New Tricks

Actually, it’s turning out to be a whole new poodle…

There is a Brzozowski family recipe for “Poodles”, those chocolate and peanut butter and oatmeal no-bake drop cookies  that you may remember from your childhood.  Well, I signed up to make some for our group pizza party, without checking the pantry.  Result: not nearly enough peanut butter.

In desperation, I used almond butter to extend the batch.  At least one Family Member is appalled, and that was before she found out that I was using a whole new recipe!

The good news: these things are delicious!   So instead of a lesson about checking the larder, the lesson is learning a new recipe.  This is for a very small batch – multiply as needed as I did:

All New Poodles

Mix 1 Tablespoon peanut butter, 1 Tablespoon almond butter, 2 tablespoons low-fat milk and 1/4 cup chocolate chips, over low heat, until chocolate melts.

Stir in 3/4 cup rolled oats. Remove from heat.  Drop blobs onto wax-paper-lined baking sheet.

Refrigerate 10 minutes if you can wait that long.

YUM