Livin' In An Electronics Store Tulsa Town At Christmas

My Electronics Equipment OWNS My Butt...


So here's my problem here out in Tulsa, Oklahoma this morning...Ladies and Gentlemen.

Try to commiserate with me...if you will.

It's like this...

In about the past 60 days I've acquired intentionally or in some cases, (like a progression of THREE new company cellphones ending with the current Blackberry), un-intentionally more new devices containing computer chips and being delivered into my life with owners manuals and requiring my daily attention than I can possibly deal with at my age.

I've already mentioned the new used car...our Audi Q7 "crossover" SUV...that basically drives itself and if I'm not careful each weekday morning instead of going to work I find myself heading to Jamaica because this thing can basically read my mind and it does things based on the environment around it and where it is at any given moment without my input.

Thus far I've managed to hold on to the steering wheel and poke a few extra buttons and watch the two GPS screens and make it back home each afternoon.

Then once I arrive back to the new house each day I have to deal with THIS GREAT NEW BUILDING which it turns out since we moved in is also intelligent.

In the process of wandering around looking at stuff I've learned that there's some kind of "multi-zone" heating and cooling system which I've yet to have the time to sit down and read the manual and understand...

Out in the Garage there's a control panel with the "Rain Bird" logo on it which controls our in ground "multi-zone" sprinkler system.  I stacked a pile of boxes in front of it a couple of days after we moved in because our lawn is currently dormant in the Tulsa winter conditions and frankly...

I didn't feel like reading another operating manual for free when I'm up to my ass in alligators at work learning how to model giant steel structures in my new RISA structural design software.

And then we have this "Security System" which has a keypad beside the Garage Door and the Front Door and yet ANOTHER ONE in the master panel in our bedroom and while I appreciate the idea of being able to cause it to dial 911 and make a fuss with alarms and shoot lasers and machine guns in my absence...

I just wish someone would tell me how to turn the volume down on the annoying BEEEEEPPP it makes each and every time I open my door in the middle of the night to walk outside for a minute to pick up some more firewood.

Speaking of firewood...

We bought a giant pile of seasoned wood last weekend, and since then Missy the Turbo Pup has learned to hang around the Hearth most nights basking in the warmth and glow of a good fire.  I think that she remembers her younger days when we lived on St. Simons Island and had a Tabby mortar fireplace we used a few dozen nights each year when the weather dipped down close to freezing.

Our house in Knoxtown was fireplaceless and that was one of the few things we didn't love about the place.

Meanwhile, back to discussions about combustion...

I started one (a fire) last night about 6:30 PM and it's been roaring now for over ten hours. 

I intend to try to keep it going non-stop all the way through the weekend until I have to head back to work Monday because other than a little shopping later this morning I personally don't intend to move much further than 75 feet away.

After all...I'm pretty darn accomplished at doing absolutely nothing, and this weekend other than a little homeowner stuff that is ALL I will be working on.

Hope you all have a LOVELY pre-Christmas weekend and try not to spend more than you can pay back on the old credit cards...