Tag Archives: shopping

New cell phone elicits feelings of techno-dumb

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I’ve come to realize now that I’m over the age of 40, own my own home and have it fully furnished, that shopping isn’t as much fun as it used to be.

These days, everything I admire has to pass the “Is it a want or a need?” test. Frankly, my walls have no more room for pictures or paintings, my floors have no more space for furniture and my kitchen cupboards have no more space for stoneware baking dishes or coffee mugs. I don’t even drink coffee, but that’s a blog topic for another day!

My purse, on the other hand, had room for a new cell phone. Well, that’s just a small excuse, really, for my new “so-technically-advanced-it-scares-me” gadget.

To think, two years ago I was the proud owner of a chunky Nokia cell phone that met my most basic need … to call and receive calls.

I traded that ancient device in for a touchscreen cell phone with a slide-out keyboard that was the envy of my niece, Jessie. (She helped me choose the new cell phone so she wouldn’t be embarrassed to see me talking on the old Nokia.)

With the notification that my cell phone contract was up, I ventured into the local cell phone shop on Saturday all by myself. I was determined not to let the fear of these new-fangled devices get the better of me.

I knew exactly what I wanted … a new phone to be able to view the Daily Globe website, update it as needed, post photos on the web and on Facebook and access all three of my email accounts with the simple touch of a button.

I know, I know, nothing is ever that simple!

For starters, I had no idea there were so many options to choose from. I have friends who will use nothing but an iPhone, and others who say the Droid is the best.

Needless to say, I was conflicted.

I know people who are so indecisive it drives me bonkers, and I was trying not to be that way with the salesperson. My greatest dilemma was deciding to keep the slide-out keyboard or go to a completely touchscreen model. I saved $50 by going to the touchscreen, and I haven’t used my new phone enough to say I regret the decision.

(I’m sure it will come, one day!)

Now, I suppose it would be normal for a person, after purchasing a new electronic gadget, to leave the store with a smile. I’m pretty sure, however, that the security cameras captured my expression of fear as I walked out of the cell phone store.

I was on my own, with a new cell phone, a few basic pointers and a how-to book.

Any guess as to how long it took for me to return to the cell phone store with a question? Less than 24 hours!

The cell phone place transferred all of my cell phone contacts when I’d purchased the phone, but I managed to mess things up when I set up my email and Facebook accounts. Suddenly, the 88 phone numbers in my contact list grew to 392 names. My phone had synched all my Facebook friends with all of my email contacts and all of my phone numbers. Yikes!

I spent at least two hours trying to undo the mess, and when I took the phone back to the shop, it took the guy less than 10 seconds to clear up the problem. Yeah, I felt stupid!

The phone now sits on my desk at work as if to say, “Come on, let’s see how you can mess me up again!”

I have a feeling this is going to be an ongoing duel to see how long my patience lasts. So far, it’s cell phone: 2; me: 0.

Oh, and if I hang up on you, it’s certainly not on purpose. I’m still trying to figure out how to answer my phone.

My virtual reality

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 It all started when I walked into the Hallmark shop in the Mall of America a couple of months ago.

I was walking among the rows of gift items when my eyes caught sight of the cutest little stuffed animal. It was white, with floppy ears, nubbins for horns and a beard.

Do you know what it was? You can have just one guess!

Have you guessed?

OK, it was a taog (I spelled it backwards, just in case you haven’t guessed yet).

By now, most of you know that I used to raise goats when I was growing up on the farm. It was then that I started my goat collection — everything from goats in paintings to ceramic goats, goat puzzles and goat stuffed animals.

I looked at this goat — a Webkinz — and decided that although it was really cute, I just didn’t have the extra money to buy myself one for Christmas (I’d already bought myself a Christmas gift — a new dSLR camera).

Well, as you can imagine, a few hours later I was wishing I had purchased that adorable little goat.

On the way back to Worthington, Mom and I stopped at every Hallmark shop we could think of, but none of them had a stuffed goat. In fact, few of them carried Webkinz.

I was a bit familiar with the Webkinz. Nephew Blake had a hedgehog Webkinz and spent one weekend at my house playing on the Webkinz website. (Yes, they have an entire website devoted to those cute little critters!)

I told Blake about the Webkinz goat over Christmas, and he told me I had to get it. If I did, he said I could be his neighbor and bring my goat over to visit his hedgehog.

I gave up on ever finding the goat in an actual store, ultimately ordering one online. It arrived in the mail about a week ago, and on Saturday night, nephew Zach and niece Katie helped me create a Webkinz account for my pretty little pet goat.

The box said it was a Webkinz Billy Goat, but when I created the account, I was asked whether my pet was male or female.

I’m now the proud owner of a female Billy Goat — now that’s a first! Her name is Travel’R, named in honor of the goat that was the matriarch of my herd, the girl that would follow me around the yard like a dog, the girl that is buried on the hill in the goat pasture, just west of the barn she called home.

Anyway, my virtual Travel’R is absolutely nothing like my real Travel’R.

According to the Webkinz website, Travel’R’s favorite food is alfalfa fajitas. I can buy them at the Webkinz store for 25 coins, I believe.

When I feed my virtual Travel’R her alfalfa fajitas, a thought bubble pops up and she tells me how much she loves alfalfa fajitas. And then she tells me how much she loves me for buying them for her.

Aw, how cute is that?

Zach and Katie helped me create Travel’R’s room, which is like a room in a house — not a room in a barn.

There were no straw bales available for purchase, no hay manger or water bucket.

Instead, I purchased a couch with pillows and a peach lamp.

The next morning, I logged in to see how Travel’R was doing and, boy, did I get a surprise.

My virtual goat had chewed up the couch! There were holes in the seat cushions, holes in the back cushion and a little brown thing that I can only imagine is a gift of goat droppings!

Uffda.

After the shock wore off, I had Zach help me create an outdoor room for Travel’R — she might enjoy free space with grass, trees and plants a whole lot more than a couch.

Then again, I realized Thursday morning that if I click on my virtual Travel’R, and then click on the couch, she climbs up on the cushion, starts bouncing high up in the air and says, “Wee, Wee.”

Well, this ought to be an interesting adventure.

I wasn’t too sure I’d be a frequent visitor to my Webkinz room, although Blake warned me that if I don’t feed my goat, she’s going to die. Now, I feel obligated to check on her at least once a week. I don’t think she can cause any more damage to the couch, but I put a chair and a dresser in her room on Thursday. I’m a bit curious to see what she’s going to do to wreck them.

I wish I could say she’d leave the furniture alone if I kept her full of alfalfa fajitas, but I know from raising goats in the real world that they love to sample just about anything.

I guess there is a bit of reality in the virtual world after all.

Oh, you make me smile

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It seems the older I get the more I wonder about the meaning of life. Perhaps more specifically, I wonder what it is I am here to accomplish.

Do you ever think about that?

Of course, I have my job – filling the minds of our readers with information, sometimes providing entertainment and – on the rare occasion – evoking a reaction. But outside of work, am I doing anything worthwhile? Mostly, I think no matter what I do, I could be – should be – doing more.

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in the church pew and reading through the bulletin when I came across a short paragraph about Operation Christmas Child. Oh sure, I’d heard of it before, but in all my nearly 40 years, I’d never bothered to actually volunteer to take and fill a box.

In nearly four decades, I’ve never once walked up to a giving tree at Christmas, plucked a name from its branch and filled a box full of items for a child in need.

I’ve had good intentions to do so, but when it came down to it, I always found an excuse or two.

“That’s for someone else – someone who doesn’t have a boatload of nieces and nephews to buy Christmas presents for, or someone who makes more money than I do,” I’d say to myself as I walked on by.

But this time, this year, I wasn’t going to listen to those excuses rolling through my brain. I want to put a smile on a child’s face this Christmas. It’s been kind of a rough year for me – it’s been a rough month for me. Putting a smile on a child’s face – I can do that.

I drove to the store late this afternoon with my Operation Christmas Child shoebox and a brochure that outlined my options. Naturally, I waited until the last moment to do my shopping – the box is due at church in the morning.

Anyway, I could shop for a boy or a girl, ages 2-4, 5-9 or 10-14. Having much experience shopping for nieces and nephews, I steered clear of the boy ages 10-14 category – the toughest of all categories to shop for.

With just an hour and a half free in my Saturday schedule, I opted for what I thought was the easiest – girl, ages 2-4.  I was pretty confident I could find something to put a smile on a little girl’s face on Christmas morning.

At least that was until I started walking through the departments – toys, clothes, books and hygiene. The options were endless, the choices were difficult and when I had a collection of items for my box, I worried that either I wouldn’t have enough to make the box look full, or that the doll I picked out would take up too much space.

The box is sitting on the desk by my keyboard as I write this, and the bag of items is still on the dining room table – I’ll learn soon enough if my shopping skills were adequate.

Now, I think perhaps I should have given a bit more thought to one of the items I purchased. I have no idea where these gifts end up, but my 2-, 3- or 4-year-old girl is going to get a pair of mittens she may have absolutely no use for. (I’ve had the chills all day, which I’m sure impacted my decision on the pretty little pink knitted pair.)

As for the rest of the items, I hope she’ll be happy with a pack of pink and purple socks, a doll dressed in pink and blue, a pink Dora toothbrush (all little girls MUST have pink!) and a Berenstain Bears book – a favorite series of mine as a child. I’m hoping she’ll have a parent who can read it to her over and over again.

I haven’t decided if I’ll include a note in the box – it’s optional. I’m happy just knowing it will make a little girl smile – or at least thinking it will make a little girl smile. That’s good enough for me.

I know it isn’t much. I could have – should have – done more, but it’s a good first step. And best of all, it made me feel good. That’s the most wonderful thing about the Christmas season!

Expanding the goat herd

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I brought four goats home with me Sunday evening.

No, they’re not real goats – the kind that will eat the weeds out of my perennial gardens and keep me from having to mow the lawn every few days.

These are the kind that immediately found a home in my display case.

The folks and I took a drive down to Spirit Lake Sunday afternoon to visit the big flea market extravaganza. I like to get down there at least once a year, though as my mom can tell you, I don’t need another thing crammed into my lovely little house.

However, I can always find room for another goat, or two, or three.

Goat collectibles are difficult to find … this I know.

My collection has been ongoing for about 30 years and, though I thinned the herd out just once to earn some extra money, I’ve amassed a meager collection.

The newest additions have already become favorites – a goat pulling a flower cart with a pair of ducks sitting atop it (it’s a musical piece … you turn the wheel and it plays "Chariots of Fire"), a little white goat gracing the top of a thimble, a wooden goat (I had one of these previously in my collection, but its front leg broke off in one of the many moves I’ve made), and finally, an empty can of Schell’s Bock beer (it has an adorable goat on the front of the can). This is the first beer can in my goat collection.

I can’t really say which of the pieces in my collection is my absolute favorite. Some of them have special stories behind them, some are simply unique and all remind me of my childhood years raising goats on the family farm south of Worthington.

Glitter, glitter, go away

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I was scanning the greeting card section of a local store the other day, hoping to stock up on graduation cards and find just the right Mother’s Day card for Mom.

Card shopping always seems to take forever. I have to look through all of the cards that have interesting covers, and then read the verses inside to make sure they fit the recipient and the occasion.

I’m sure card shopping wouldn’t take nearly as long if I wasn’t so particular about the cards I buy.

Aside from price, my main screening process is to avoid any and all cards with glitter.

Whatever possessed card companies to decorate cards with glitter in the first place?

Glitter never stays on cards, this I know.

From time to time I errantly pull a glittery card from the rack and immediately have little sparkles on my fingers. From there it gets on my clothes or my face … and sometimes in my hair. If you’ve ever had this experience, you probably also realize it’s nearly impossible to get rid of it by trying to brush it off.

Of all the graduation cards in the rack the other day, I found an absolutely beautiful money-holder card graced with a lighthouse on the cover. As a lighthouse fan, I instinctively reached for it, already making up my mind that I would buy a couple of them if the verse inside was acceptable.

Well, as I brought the card closer to my eyes, I saw hundreds of little specks of glitter that made up the light of the lighthouse. Ugh. I opened the card anyway, found I liked the verse, and then put it back on the rack where it could wait for someone who appreciates glitter.

I gave up on my card shopping after that, walked to the counter with the two cards I’d already settled on, and noticed that the card department had given me a little gift during my visit … silver glittery specks on my fingers.