Death is not worse pain than an empty life. -- Lun Tha

Re:  The MotorolaKRZR K1m

I've had my phone for one week as of today.  Here are some thoughts:

It's very sleek and -- dare I say it? -- feminine in appeal for me.  The mirrored front plate does get to be annoying as I'm ALWAYS trying to wipe it off and keep it clean.  Silly, but there you go. It makes an excellent compact mirror, however.   The camera (still and video) capabilities are great and the resolution is excellent, even on its second-highest setting.  Fairly easy to learn to navigate the controls and options, too.

My only gripe has been this:  The phone froze up three times in four days.  It didn't turn off. It just didn't allow me to receive calls or make any or anything. No warning; there was just no response, say, if someone tried calling me.  Three times!  I wrote to customer service about it and was advised to take my handset to a local store. I did, and was immediately provided with a brand new handset in exchange. They even transferred my phone book to the new handset free of charge.

However, I lost all my pictures (from the fair, sniff!) and the four ringtones I had purchased.

So I am going to go back to my notes and see if I can get those ringtones replaced or refunded. I paid almost $10 for about two days worth of ringtones.  That was kind of silly.

Since I really am not fond of the tones that come with the phone itself (the Samsung Cyclone got for his birthday has better built-ins) I did buy one more ringtone (Creedence Clearwater Revival) for the handset. I'm going to see if it manages not to freeze on me for a week or so before I invest in any more.

But otherwise, it's been a great phone and Verizon was very prompt about attending to the freeze issue.  So that's all good.

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Re: The Exploding Sunburnt Gecko Facial Allergy from March, 2006

Last year, whatever it is out here that made my face swell up in something imitating an angio edemic reaction but on my forehead and eyes surfaced about mid-month. I was pretty sure, what with our abnormally warm winter, that this year the whatever it is would surface earlier.

I was correct.

I took Claritin on March 1 to go to the Fair with the preschoolers.   Walked outside and did well enough.  Got to sleep and everything that night. But I woke up at three in the morning with that weird puffy feeling starting on my forehead and eyelids.   I panicked, almost,  and ran (I was on Tylenol PM, so this was rather amusing on the whole) to the kitchen and popped a quick Claritin tablet.  It had been approximately 21 hours since I had taken the previous one. 

All March 2nd, I could feel the reaction I had last year prickling under my skin. My eyelids and forehead did indeed puff a bit and there has been some itchiness....

But....

So long as I have been taking the Claritin 24 hour tablets at 21 hour intervals, I've staved off any major display of gecko-face. 

I haven't gone to the doctor, (Yes, Cathian, you can chew me out later, lol) because only someone well-acquainted with my face would see the differences in it since the reaction has apparently been controlled enough by this pre-emptive Claritin treatment. 

So I am very very thankful.  I plan on keeping up this routine, waking up in the middle of the night as the schedule requires, for the rest of March.  And maybe into April.   The gecko-face lasted about six weeks last year. Maybe I can cut it down this year?

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Re: Cyclone's birthday

Cyclone was very pleased to  have received so many lovely birthday wishes. Thank you. He'd write, but getting him to write anything not school-related lately is like pulling the proverbial tooth. <smile>  He had a great birthday, he informed me, and that's the goal of the birthday day in the House O'Quill.  (Remember, birthdays are days of blatant self-indulgence insofar as is domestically possible, here.) As has been our custom, he got one new privilege and got one new household responsibility added this year.  I think this is the last year that will be the case. <smile>  From now on, we'll probably just enter into negotiations.

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Re:  The weather

It's been clear and chilly and windy today along the Gulf Coast where I live.  Went to Curves this morning and it was only 46 degrees. Yes, for those of you who live in actual cold, that's probably rather comfy, but for me, it was chilly. We are now at a breezy 66 degrees on the banks of the Caloosahatchee, and that's lovely for the time of year.

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I'm going to try to do something deep and meaningful before Cartoon Ranger's bus delivers him home again. I have half an hour.  <grin> Think I can do it?