Another five days without a car in Phoenix. That is not a big deal, except that only the homeless and destitute are the ones without cars. Phoenix has a love affair with cars and is not built for walking or biking. There are a few of us hard headed folks who are trying to set an example by not using a car. Thursday I walked the 1.5 miles plus to the Verizon store and bought a new phone - an HTC DNA android smart phone. It has a bigger screen than my old HTC Incredble 2 phone, and has even more things on it that I probably will never use. Some of them I tried to delete, and was successful, but there are others where I need help.
Thursday and Friday I walked to the local grocery store to buy wine, beer and food for the dinner I hosted Friday evening. Jane McNamara, Cathy Colbert, Cathy's mom Madeline, Meg McNamara and Shawn Harrell all joined me here. Anne McNamara was unable to join us. I had munchies (cheese and crackers, nachos with salsa and guacamole, popcorn, white cheddar cheese Cheez-its, fruit), salad and burgers for dinner, and wines, beer, ice water and diet coke for drinks. We visited for a couple of hours and ate dinner on the patio. After the others left, Jane, Meg and I played a couple of games of Scrabble.
Saturday I was out and around our condos. As a board member, it is always a good idea to walk around and find any problems to report to the board and to our property management company. There was a complaint about pigeons, and I found where one pigeon had created a nest on a ledge. A thorough walk around found no other evidence.
Lock boxes are not allowed by our condo rules. If owners can be identified (as in the next photo with the lock box on the chair), they are warned and potentially fined.
If the owner of the lock box cannot be identified, they are cut and removed - this unidentified one is on the bottom of the staircase just outside our unit.
The landscaping is going well and many of our plants are in bloom, both
the native desert plants as well as those that need watering.
Saturday, I again walked to the Verizon store and purchased a Jetpack. This will allow us to access the internet with a 4G cell connection. For several years, we had a digital cable box for TV, internet and land line phone with Cox Communications, and alarm system with Multicom using the land line phone connection. Then I bought a paper thin TV antenna and returned the digital cable box. We still get more than 30 channels, so this is enough for me. That lowered the monthly bill to $90 with Cox plus $30 per month with Multicom. Changing to the Jetpack will allow us switch to a wireless alarm system with ADT for $40 per month plus $20 per month for the Jetpack. We may need to buy additional data from Verizon, but I do not think we will need to do so.
Sunday morning, Jane McNamara and I went for our usual Sunday morning hike between Shaw Butte and North Mountain. Anne was going to hike with us but cancelled out early Sunday morning. We did our usual three mile hike and saw these nice vistas looking west and south from the trail.
After the hike, we had breakfast at the Eye Opener - a new breakfast in the Sunnyslope area. It was not as good as our usual haunt, The Good Egg. We then ran some errands and I dropped Jane at her house, as she loaned me her car for the day. I ran some errands, then drove to theVerizon store - they gave me a $35 credit for my old phone. Then late afternoon, I drove to Mike and Debbie Gilman's for our annual Tuesday Docent end of season party - a wonderful time with wonderful people. Besides all of the docents and spouses/partners, many of the DBG staff were invited as well. All of the volunteers are active physically and mentally, even though many are in their 70s and 80s. They are also very much people who give of their time and money to try to make the world a better place.
Today, I walked two plus miles to the shopping center where Bed, Bath and Beyond is, then over to the Verizon store to use that $35 credit to buy a charging pad - rather than plugging my phone in to recharge the battery, now I just set in on this pad. I will be trying it out tonight. And now it is time to do some more things on my Monday to do list.
Thursday and Friday I walked to the local grocery store to buy wine, beer and food for the dinner I hosted Friday evening. Jane McNamara, Cathy Colbert, Cathy's mom Madeline, Meg McNamara and Shawn Harrell all joined me here. Anne McNamara was unable to join us. I had munchies (cheese and crackers, nachos with salsa and guacamole, popcorn, white cheddar cheese Cheez-its, fruit), salad and burgers for dinner, and wines, beer, ice water and diet coke for drinks. We visited for a couple of hours and ate dinner on the patio. After the others left, Jane, Meg and I played a couple of games of Scrabble.
Saturday I was out and around our condos. As a board member, it is always a good idea to walk around and find any problems to report to the board and to our property management company. There was a complaint about pigeons, and I found where one pigeon had created a nest on a ledge. A thorough walk around found no other evidence.
Lock boxes are not allowed by our condo rules. If owners can be identified (as in the next photo with the lock box on the chair), they are warned and potentially fined.
If the owner of the lock box cannot be identified, they are cut and removed - this unidentified one is on the bottom of the staircase just outside our unit.
Saturday, I again walked to the Verizon store and purchased a Jetpack. This will allow us to access the internet with a 4G cell connection. For several years, we had a digital cable box for TV, internet and land line phone with Cox Communications, and alarm system with Multicom using the land line phone connection. Then I bought a paper thin TV antenna and returned the digital cable box. We still get more than 30 channels, so this is enough for me. That lowered the monthly bill to $90 with Cox plus $30 per month with Multicom. Changing to the Jetpack will allow us switch to a wireless alarm system with ADT for $40 per month plus $20 per month for the Jetpack. We may need to buy additional data from Verizon, but I do not think we will need to do so.
Sunday morning, Jane McNamara and I went for our usual Sunday morning hike between Shaw Butte and North Mountain. Anne was going to hike with us but cancelled out early Sunday morning. We did our usual three mile hike and saw these nice vistas looking west and south from the trail.
After the hike, we had breakfast at the Eye Opener - a new breakfast in the Sunnyslope area. It was not as good as our usual haunt, The Good Egg. We then ran some errands and I dropped Jane at her house, as she loaned me her car for the day. I ran some errands, then drove to theVerizon store - they gave me a $35 credit for my old phone. Then late afternoon, I drove to Mike and Debbie Gilman's for our annual Tuesday Docent end of season party - a wonderful time with wonderful people. Besides all of the docents and spouses/partners, many of the DBG staff were invited as well. All of the volunteers are active physically and mentally, even though many are in their 70s and 80s. They are also very much people who give of their time and money to try to make the world a better place.
Today, I walked two plus miles to the shopping center where Bed, Bath and Beyond is, then over to the Verizon store to use that $35 credit to buy a charging pad - rather than plugging my phone in to recharge the battery, now I just set in on this pad. I will be trying it out tonight. And now it is time to do some more things on my Monday to do list.
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