Connections

"To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing." ~Elbert Hubbard~

 

Originally, I was going to write a very serious blog post about an experience which happened to a friend of mine earlier this week.  She's very shy.  She makes me look like an extrovert.  She found herself in the middle of a controversy where someone was making some mean and untrue statements.    The comments were delivered online, and I have to wonder if this person would have said the same thing to my friend in a face to face context.   It's so easy to type some words on a screen and send them out for the world to see - even if the world is only a few people who read a particular post or blog.  You never know where your words will land, though, or what impact they might have on the very real person who reads them.

So having spent the better part of two days reminding my friend that anyone who actually researches the facts will know the truth of the matter, I decided to do something different for my blog entry. 

I ran across an article at Huffington Post which taked about a blog from CBN about the demonic effects of Halloween candy.  Now, I have been eating Halloween candy for many years, and since I've been an adult I've also purchased quite a lot to hand out to the neighborhood children.  To the best of my knowledge, I had no ill-effects from either of these experiences, but my daughter (J) told me a story which illustrates that there may be more substance to this theory than previously realized.  She was with a couple of her friends and the following conversation took place.

J's friend #1 - Who is J dating?
J's friend #2 - She's dating S
J's friend #1 - Which one is he?
J's friend  #2 - He's the one who looks like Lucifer.

My daughter's steady boyfriend could be the devil incarnate, and it's obviously directly connected to the fact that I have eaten Halloween candy and allowed her to do the same.  That idea of a time-release curse on the Halloween candy is brilliant, but who knew it took so many years?


I did tell her to at least use that connection, and see if we couldn't get something good out of it.  ;-)

Anyway, all joking aside - I hope that you have a Happy Halloween (if you celebrate it), a great Saturday (if you don't go in for trick or treating on either side of the door), and watch out for things that go bump in the night!
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(And yes - my comments about Halloween candy being connected to anything demonic were all in jest.  Not that anyone reads my blog, but odds are high that if someone did - it could be the very someone who would take that literally.  The conversation about my daughter's boyfriend looking like Lucifer really did take place as quoted, although I have yet to see the boy sprout either horns on his head or a pointy red tail on his backside.) 

Forget GPS - my phone has ESP

I use Verizon as my cell phone carrier.  Overall, I've had great experiences with them.  They have a plan (like other companies) that allows you to replace your cell phone every couple of years at a discount.  I think I bought my current phone two years ago in October, so yesterday - September 30 - what does my phone do?  The screen goes dark and refuses to reappear no matter how much I beg, cajole, threaten, or even offer chocolates.

I was in a neighboring town when this happened, but they also have a Verizon store.  It should be easy enough to walk in there, buy a replacement phone, and go on my merry way for the rest of the evening, right?   So I walk in - sign in (and I still don't understand why that's necessary) - and wait for a sales associate to become available. 

After about ten minutes, a gentleman calls my name.  Yes, that's me.  I smile and show him my phone, explaining that it died - sniff, show some sympathy here - and that I need a new one right away.  He asks if I already know what I want, and I say no - I had not planned to go phone shopping just then.    I tell him that I know I'm looking for something with a QWERTY keyboard.  I was expecting to be pulled over to look at a Blackberry, but no - he takes me to look at some tiny phone whose keyboard isn't anything like what I just described.  So I point that out to him and ask about the display, and he tells me that the only thing he can recommend is an LG phone.  He's had one for years, and they've never failed him.

That's great, but I've never had a positive experience with an LG phone.  So I ask what else is available, and mention several that I looked at while I was browsing.  I ask what's the difference between model A and model B.  He goes - they're all the same, and did I want to browse some more?  Then he heads over to the other side of the store and talks on the phone for twenty minutes.

I know, you're asking why I waited around that long.  Well - part of me just wanted to see what in the world the guy was doing, right?  And the other part of me was still playing with the phones, trying to figure out which model I really did want when I went to a different Verizon store.  

Anyway, long story short - I didn't buy a new phone tonight.  I'm leaning toward a Blackberry for the moment, but we'll see.   I'll get one this weekend.  My old phone - may it rest in peace - knew that it's time was almost up anyway...if only it could have known that closer to a store with someone who wanted to make a sale.