Altoona, IA - New Computer

Errands today: I’ve got the list drawn up, lots of piddly errands but, as you all know, errands occur in everyone’s life.

I did some grocery shopping and learned the bottle/can recycling game. Usually, Gary does this while I cruise the produce section of the store. But today it was my game. I learned that there are separate recycling containers for cans and for plastic bottles. You can’t put cans in the bottle recycler. Who knew? Well, lots of people have this specialized knowledge - it just has not passed my ken. I learned that the bottles needed to be put in with the top first, not the bottom. They are rejected. Imagine having your bottles rejected by the recycling machine. I was so embarassed. Lots of valuable lessons that will hold me in good stead down the line.

I also took the rest of my business suits and clothes to Dress for Success a non-profit franchise for which a co-worker from Wells Fargo started the Des Moines branch. They not only take in business clothing donations for those without these to use for interviews and their first week on the job, they also help these people with the interview and with job skills. A great need and Jody’s doing a great job with it.

On the way home I dropped off some old records (you know those black disks that we all used to play for music) at a local record shop. I had kept one of the first Beatles albums and several Bob Dylan albums, some Janis Joplin, some Led Zep becuase I was sure that they would be come extremely valuable in the future and I could sell them for a fortune. WRONG. I got $20 for the lot.

Then I headed on over to Best Buy to check prices for a new computer. Gary has thought I should have one for a long time but, being as thrifty as I am, I’ve held off. But, I want Gary with me when I buy it so I finish my errands and head on back to the house, pick Gary up and we head on out to the Apple store to check their prices. 5 blue-shirted sales people surrounded us asking how they could help us. Obviously, we look more like buyers than all the teens crowding around the I Phones, I Pads and I Pods. Guess what? they matched the Best Buy price for us. And, we walked out with a new computer.

Of course, that was easy. The hard part is migrating everything I have on my current computer onto the new one. I thought holding it above the new one and shaking it to get everything out might work. But, the Apple 'Genius' told us at we could pay $99 and they would do it for us. Sounded good and we paid. Them when I turned the new computer on I got this? 'Want to try the migration assistant?' Sure, why not? And, I turned it over to Gary who did everything. He went online to He used the Migration Assistant but one never knows so he took a while to check it all over and, with a few exceptions, everything was there. Later he got these last two pieces to work right. Not only is he the sexiest guy I know, but he also can do just about everything on a computer. Saved us $99.