My phone rang a 3 am. Because I had slept for hours after my French Fry binge, I was up and interested. I was expecting it to be a scam, but it wasn't. The voice on the other end said, "Betty?" a clear indication that this was for real. Scammers always call me Elizabeth, the name on my credit card. It was an officer from the Princeton Police Department answering my call. (He said nothing about the shriek he heard in the middle of the voice mail.) In answer to my question: The Princeton Police Department issues fingerprint cards and allows them to leave the premises with an ORI #. Huh? Clearly, the rules of the Kona Police Department are not universal.
Since the fingerprint cards were issued by the Hilo Police Department, Hilo being the county's capital, I realized they had to have completely blank cards there. They fill in their ORI number and send them over to Kona. They said they have blanks, and I can fill in my own ORI #. I'm willing to go over there and find out. It will be a three-hour round trip. Unfortunately, the restaurant I really love, A Mexican restaurant with nacho chips, Rueben's, that never fails to please my palate, will be closed. Oh, well.
On my morning walk, I worked on lifting my knees higher and pushing through more. The leg pain is almost gone, only a slight strain. I was able to complete 5,000 steps on the morning walk.
I finally got a handle on myself and called my Microsoft support service to challenge their charges. Every time I asked a question, they answered me with gobbly-gook. I told them they had to translate their techno-talk to everyday English. It's rude not to do otherwise.
I can't believe I'm the only person who doesn't understand what they say. I do think I am the only person or one of the only ones who will demand an understanding of what I purchased.
The original agent told me that I needed a new Microsoft Professional package, a new operating system, and new virus protection. The operating system and the virus protection were for the computer's lifetime, coming with Mike's tablet purchase. The original agent triggered my doubts when I told me I had to order a new professional package subscription, telling me that Mike bought a three-year package. Wait! If Mike bought a three-year package, it would expire in 2021 since he bought it in 2018. I woke up in the middle of the night with that brilliant realization. That's when I started challenging their sales pitch.
Now on to the operating system. Mike got a lifetime operating system and virus protection when buying the Microsoft Tablet Source as I understood their somewhat garbled information. Problem: that lifetime operating system isn't compatible with current updates. This means if an updated version of the Microsoft Professional Suite came through, the tablet would not receive it.
The explanation is the package that came with the machine did not have an access key. Without the access key, the new programs could not have access to the tablet. By analogy: the original 'lifetime' operating system is like a room without a key. You can't get into it to put in new purchases. It is necessary to buy a package with a 'key' so you can get updates. I will have to check on that.
I had both the company owner and the man who originally sold me the two packages on the phone. I pushed until I got sense out of them. The owner finally said he would give me a lifetime subscription to the Microsoft Professional Package. I told him, "I'll take it, but it was unnecessary." I wasn't pushing to get a deal. I just wanted a clear understanding of what was going on so I didn't feel conned. I repeated this comment several times. I gave him the opportunity to rescind his offer. He didn't. I told him to send me a receipt, which he hasn't up to this point.
I had a tutoring session with D. His memory problems persist. He has trouble remembering th=/th/ in words like this, that, the, and they. He returns over and over to pronouncing the t separately from the h. Over and over, I pronounce the word pronouncing both the /t/ and the /h/ and ask, "Is this the way you say the word? If it is, you are correct. If you don't, it's wrong. Listen to yourself. You speak English correctly. You can trust your pronunciation. Listen to what is." And then, five words later, we have to start all over again. He doesn't listen to himself. Although, in all fairness, he did do it differently once today. Once promises more to come. His comprehension went back and forth. Some of it may sense; some did not. All and all, both his word recognition and his comprehension are better. I wouldn't say he's cognitively slow, but I have no idea what is happening with this boy.
I didn't have much time between D. and my work later in the day with M. M's mom sent me a comprehension passage she had previously worked on with her daughter. M's comprehension wasn't very good. I thought this passage was way over a fifth grader's head. It was a difficult, dense, descriptive passage that switched randomly between main points, was written as one paragraph, and had at least two grammatical errors.
I started the session with M. talking about how it's a normal reaction to just shut down when something looks confusing. I was going to show her how to crack the puzzle open. I asked questions about every sentence. I didn't require her to use the exact words in the sentence because her verbal expression skills are already well developed.
In response to the first question, she was prepared to repeat the whole sentence. I told her I needed her to give me just the words that answered the question. She caught on quickly. I didn't have to give that direction again.
After the session, I spoke to the mom briefly. She asked me how it went. I told her I thought it went well. The mom had been listening while she kept her seven-year-old son preoccupied so he didn't make disturbing noises. She said she thought her daughter's comprehension of the passage was better. I told her I was not teaching her how to understand this passage; I was teaching her a strategy for unpacking any sentence she couldn't immediately understand. We are scheduled for half an hour a week, and I can't imagine her needing more than one or two sessions before her reading comprehension will satisfy her parents' idea of what appropriate performance might be. I may want to do one or two sessions on her writing afterward. We'll see.
Afterward, I left for town. Spectrum is coming tomorrow to install an additional modem or router box; I can't remember which one. I do know that I will connect to it with an ethernet cord. I wanted to have that cord available before the technician arrived. I stopped at Office Max. The ethernet cord is 25 feet long. Well, that calms my concern about needing to be close to the modem before I can hook it up with the cable.
Then I went to Target. I picked up some all-beef hotdogs. It's what I'm used to. I also looked for a new blender. The one I have, which Mike picked up at Habitat for Humanity years ago, is making complaining sounds. I expect to give up the ghost shortly. Most of the ones on display had super large bases, which means they won't fit into my appliance garage. I saw one that looked good, a Kitchen Aide, but I couldn't find a price. I had to ask an associate for help. She had to scan the barcode to find the price. It was on sale for $79, down from $99. Others were cheaper, but I decided this one suited my needs, and I like the brand. I'll hold on to it until I have checked what Costco has to offer. If there is something as good for less money, I will grab that and return this one.
Then I headed for the bank. I had a check to cash and planned to get a $25 cashier's check to pay for my second fingerprint card from Hilo. The parking lot was empty, but people were waiting out in front of the bank. I asked if it was open. They told me closed, but they were all Spanish speakers and didn't even try to say anything other than 'closed." Okay, I didn't know banks closed at 4 pm. I never ran into this problem before. Something new every day.
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Musings:
I learned something extraordinary about the brain. The image of an apple occurs/appears in the same spot in everyone's brain. They have developed imaging techniques to determine this.
This has nothing to do with the word for "apple." It has to do with the image. They have tested this cross-culturally. They put a person in an imaging machine, ask them to lie still, and think about a particular object, i.e., an apple. The scientists then identify where in the brain that image registers. They have perfected the process sufficiently so a machine can read these brain images and correctly identify what the person was thinking of.
This is amazing, promising methods for helping people who have problems and absolute horror on how this can/will be used sometime in the future. The scientist who talked about it in a TED talk said not to worry; it will never be used to read people's minds against their will. He explained that they only could achieve this mind-reading with a limited number of objects, and the person had to hold very still. Ha! This poor deluded scientist assumes that technology won't improve. Of course, it will be used for evil as well as good. Everything we have developed is. What a species!
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