(Another) Hearing Update

   I made the trek to Regina and back..again..for my damned hearing aid, which quit working earlier this month (see my July 23rd post). I'll admit that after not having it for a week, it was nice to get it back. I'm still not 100% (or even 80%) happy with it, but I refuse to make another trip until necessary.
   Like the last time I was down, the round trip took over 4 hours, due mainly to road work being done in the Queen City, meaning I didn't get home until 6:30 last night. Which is a long day for me. I probably could have got home earlier, but decided to stop for a quick bite, which I wished I hadn't. Mall food court Chinese food isn't great, and it sat like a lump all the way back. I could've gone to a sit-down restaurant, but wanted to get home. In hindsight, I should've just bolted back to Yorkton and picked something up.
   Oh, yeah. The problem with the hearing aid was the receiver quit working.

TTFN

The Things You Find

   Okay, I admit it. I'm a clutter-bug. I was looking for something in my home office yesterday, when I came across some of the material my wife and I got when we took our trip to Norway. 9 years ago today, to be exact.

   I won't post any of the pictures I took during the trip, to save me time uploading them, and you boredom looking at them. The trip was fantastic, as far as bus tours go, and I'd do it again. Why a "package holiday"? It was the best way to see as much of the country as we could in a limited amount of time. Had we made our own arrangements, we wouldn't have seen or experienced even half of what we did. Would I go on another tour? Maybe, if we could hit a few different areas. But, we'd also like to travel elsewhere as well.
   And that's where some 'problems' creep up. First, while we'd like to visit Norway again, if we had the chance (and the finances) I think we'd move there permanently. My grandfather came from the "old country" in 1907. Second, and as mentioned, we'd like to travel more. My wife would love to see Russia, and we'd both like to see more of Europe, if we had the chance (and the finances). And finally, finding the material shows the need for me to clean up and categorize my home office. Yeah, right.
   As for the item I was searching for that started the whole thing: I'm still searching.

TTFN

This Wins The Internet This Week

   It's been the buzz on social media ever since Tuesday, when it happened. Someone much more well versed than I am in the ways of computer imaging, came up with a phony Great Seal of the President of the United States. It ended up being briefly projected behind POTUS Donald Trump at a youth event this week.
   The fake seal has double-headed eagle, lifted from the Russian coat of arms, with one set of talons holding golf clubs instead of arrows, with the other clutching cash, rather than an olive branch. And rather than the motto "E. Pluribus Unum", the fake seal's says "45 es un titere", Spanish for "45 is a puppet".
   The man who created it, a former Republican and Bush supporter, says he did it after the 2016 election. Trump's relationship with Russia has cast somewhat of a pall on his presidency, including unproven Russian collusion in the campaign.
   The person who projected the image behind Trump was fired.
   Poor taste, perhaps. But in my mind, it still wins the 'net.

TTFN

Hearing Update

   So, I trekked down to Regina yesterday to see about my hearing aid, which packed it in last week (see Disappointed). Lo and behold, the technician said she couldn't hear anything (no pun intended) when she checked it out. So, it has to go back for repairs. Luckily, it's under warranty, or I'd be hooped, since I have no idea what repairs cost, and I sure don't have another $25 hundred to throw away on a new one.
   The biggest downside in all this is it's going to take at least 2 weeks for them to send it back, get repairs done, and have it shipped back the the place I've been dealing with. So it means almost no hearing in my affected (left) ear. And it also means another 4 hour round trip to Regina after getting up at 03:30 and working my usual 8 hour day. Oh, well. It is what it is.

TTFN

Disappointed

   Last year (December to be exact) I blogged about having to get a hearing aid, due to serious hearing loss in my left ear. The first one I got, I was not happy with. So, after spending almost $15 hundred on it, I went back to the hearing centre I got it from. And got a nearly $1 thousand upgrade in January.
   Yesterday morning, it quit. Completely. There was no warning. It just shut down. At first, I thought it might've been the battery, since they only last 4 or 5 days. Usually, I get an audio "battery" warning when wearing it, but I didn't. I changed the battery. When I power it up, I get several tones letting me know it's on (even though I can hear the difference anyway). Not even a "beep" when I tried it again.
   The upshot of all this is I now have to make a 4-hour in total round trip to Regina to have them look at it. If it's a quick fix, I might be in their office for 15 minutes. If it's pooched, I don't know what to do.

TTFN

50 Years

   That's how long it's been since the Apollo 11 moon mission lifted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on the Saturn V rocket

   Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins arrived in lunar orbit July 19th. On July 20th, and while Collins stayed in the command module, Armstrong and Aldrin left in the Lunar Module, and safely touched down in the Sea of Tranquility.
   A few hours later, the L.M hatch opened, and Armstrong became the first human to set foot on another world. His words "that's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind". He was joined by Aldrin a short time later, who called the lunar landscape "magnificent desolation". They spent most of the mission collecting samples and setting up experiments, some of which are still in use today. They also took hundreds of photographs, including this of Armstrong's reflection in Aldrin's visor

   Where was I in all this? As a then 13 year old, I, along with my father, was glued to the T.V. I remember vividly an electrical storm caused the power to go out, just as the L.M was getting set to touch down. It came back on just in time. I also watched the 2 take their historic walk on the moon. Apollo 11 safely returned to Earth July 24th. Armstrong died in 2012, and of the 2 remaining crew, only Michael Collins was back at the launch pad today to commemorate the event.

TTFN

Time Flies

   It was a cold January 12th we added to our family. We adopted this cute little ball of fur, and my wife named her "Minerva"

   Flash forward 6 months, and that little ball of fur isn't so little anymore

   In fact, as you can see, she's pretty much full-grown now. "Mini", as we now call her, continues to be a ball of unbounded energy. And while she has settled down somewhat, she's still subject to deviltry. Things like shredding toilet paper (which we now keep in our bathroom cupboard), attacking, albeit mostly playfully, her older "brother" and "sister", 15 and 11 respectively.
   She has settled down a bit, and seems to understand, as far as cats can, the "no" command, which we no longer need to enforce with a spritz from a plant water sprayer.
   She does, however, get quite rambunctious in the evening, and therefore our bedroom door remains shut.Which is a shame, because our other 2 kitties like to sleep on the bed with us. All in all, she has settled in very nicely.

TTFN