True simplicity

Today’s earworm honors the life and works of Rosalynn Carter, the groundbreaking wife and full partner for 77 years of our 39^th President, Jimmy Carter. She died this week at age 96.

The two of them have shown nothing but grace and humility in their long lives of public service, in office and out. Rosalynn sent eyebrows skyward and hands to pearls when she appeared at Cabinet meetings early in Jimmy’s term. They ignored the gasps of outrage. He sent her on diplomatic missions and she joined him in brokering the Camp David Accords between Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin in 1978. She advocated for mental health and human rights and made the office of the First Lady a thing.

We have lost a formidable force for good, but she would not wish us to mourn. She—like Jimmy—knew where she was headed, and she welcomed the journey. It was one of her many gifts

So here is the Shaker hymn, “Simple Things”, performed in true simplicity by Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss.

 

 

Thanks

We’re at the Big Day for gratitude here in the United States. In the world, we’re also in kind of a parlous state—two kinetic wars; natural disasters—volcanic eruptions, flooding, dangerously high temperatures, hurricanes—induced by climate change; financial markets in conniptions; global rise in fascism and authoritarianism (including here, getting a boost from our native racism, misogyny and evangelical ignorance) and religious bigotry; food insecurity for millions in every country on earth (with the possible exception of Switzerland; they don’t let that kind of thing in); and a lot of other things I’ve no doubt missed.

And—of course—the turmoil at OpenAI. Because that apparently is the harbinger of some calamitous catastrophe.

What to do? What to do?

Well—be grateful for the many blessings, large and small, that get me through the day. So, in no particular order, viz:

I have pretty good health insurance, even though I’m paying a hefty premium through COBRA. Because of my first knee replacement surgery (in January), I met my deductible by April, so through the end of the year, I have no co-pays.

But I do have good doctors.

Also—those knee replacements are da bomb. On my recent trip, I walked miles and miles every day, including up and down stairs and hills in Dubrovnik and Sarajevo. I realized a few days in that I didn’t need any NSAIDS, much less anything stronger for pain. Imagine—pain free mobility!

I am not, in fact, in the middle of a kinetic war, although we all are caught in cyber wars and need to be better prepared for the attacks that come. I can go to the library, take a walk, work in the garden without fear of being targeted by a sniper. I also do not live 24/7 with the pounding of artillery, mortars and air strikes. My water, gas and electricity do not experience outages because the mains have been blown up. Grocery store shelves are pretty well stocked; supply chains are holding and we can get products from around the world.

I'm deeply grateful that our president has helped facilitate a ceasefire in Gaza. I hope that it leads to something good in that territory of misery and despair.

I have access to several library systems and so far the RWNJ Christo-fascists have not banned books in any of them. (Although it’s early days yet.) I have access to a spectrum of ideas and it’s up to me to ingest, vet and act on them wisely.

Although I am currently between gigs, I have a financial cushion. Scores of thousands who’ve been affected by 15 months of tech layoffs are not as lucky. I even have a little bit to donate to Media Matters to help them defend themselves from Elmo’s big-graveyard-full-of-my-enemies SLAPP action.

Speaking of legal affairs, so far the justice system seems to be holding up against the onslaught by Republicans at all levels. SCOTUS needs a good cleansing and there are all those appointees made by the Kleptocrat when he was in office, but with some notable exceptions, progress is being made in the prosecution of those who’ve tried to overthrow the government in the past three years. I worry about what happens in the next presidential election, but so far Gen Z gives me hope that we may be okay.

Also—God bless Taylor Swift.

Without a doubt, there is so much that’s wrong in this world, in this country and in our lives. So it’s a good thing that we take some time to celebrate the things that are right and good. I wish that 

And thus I’m also grateful for this season’s colors.

 

 

As God is my witness

In anticipation of the holiday tomorrow, I give you the most iconic Thanksgiving television show episode ever.

You’re welcome.

 

 

Old world hospitality

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was going to have a word with Amex when I got home about my accommodation in Dubrovnik. It’s the one time in years and years of using their travel service that the delta was so huge between what was promised in their listing and the booking confirmation and what I actually experienced.

Not to put too fine a point upon it, the whole thing pissed me off.

So last Wednesday I gave them a ringy-dingy, because I’d worked up a narrative with photos documenting my issues and I wanted an email address to send it to. Turns out Amex doesn’t do emails. It took me a while to get to the right place (which is Vendor Disputes, if you’re asking). Before I got there, I was on the line with Amex Travel for some time, as the agent listened to my story and then tried to contact Dubrovnik Old Town Apartments. She had no more luck than I did while I was there, so she connected me with Larry in Vendor Disputes. He also took down the broad strokes of my complaint and outlined the process (they investigate, get the vendor’s input, make a decision). What I wanted was a refund of the money I paid Dubrovnik Old Town Apartments.

Late Wednesday I received a couple of emails from Amex, which seem to indicate that they’ve accepted my complaint and that Amex Travel credited my account with the money.

Well, I’m feeling a bit like Sheriff Obie, sitting in the courtroom with his eight-by-ten color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one is, and watching the judge come in with his seeing-eye dog. (Children—if you do not get the reference, go here.) I had all my corroborating evidence lined up and Amex didn’t even want it. So I’m going to share it with you. Viz:

Based largely on the description on the Amex Travel site, I booked a stay at Dubrovnik Old Town Apartments, 24-27 October. It’s described as a bed & breakfast, with photos depicting sunny, open accommodations.

This is the description of their cleaning practices:

This is the description of accessibility:

And here’s how my room was described in the booking confirmation—note “ground floor”:

I knew it was not a hotel, but I expected it to be a professional operation; it was listed on the Amex site. However, the property address itself, 12 Zamanjina ul, is a vestibule. It is unstaffed. When you arrive there, you’re expected to call the manager, who called himself “Ante”, so he can sort you out. (Although I do not know how I was supposed to know that, since it’s not mentioned on their site, on the AMEX site or in my booking confirmation.) Aside from the first contact, he was completely unresponsive.

The “ground floor” room I was given was at the top of these 14 stairs:

I would not characterize that as “ground floor”. Moreover, these stairs were, in turn, located next to the metal chair in this photograph; meaning—up scores of steps (without banister) from actual “ground” level.

That would not be part of my definition of “accessible”.

However, my major issue with the room was the bathroom, and specifically the shower, which had black mold on multiple surfaces:

Moreover, the bath rug had clearly not been vacuumed or even shaken out:

(Which I get: you'd have to haul a vacuum cleaner up and down those stairs to clean this.)

I contacted Ante about this and got exactly zero response:

Given the delta between what I expected (based on the Amex listing) and what I received, I’d like you to refund the money I paid for my stay there.

According to Amex's latest email, I got the credit, although Ante has until January to respond. I just wish they'd remove the provider from their listings.

 

 

 

Gratitude Monday: recovery

Okay, at the nearly two-week mark, I believe the tide has turned on this bout of plague. For the first time since it started, my signal for waking up was not 37 seconds of coughing. I don’t have coughing-induced headaches. I can draw in breath without hawking up a good chunk of my pulmonary system. Like Twitter advertisers, I have paused the production of snot.

And this is my gratitude today.

 

 

 

Streptococci lurk

As I’ve mentioned, my flight back from Paris last week was a damned plague ship. So of course I’ve been sick ever since. My capacity for manufacturing snot is really impressive, but it’s the cough that’s killing me. I have a history with coughs, so I’ve been trying to tame this sucker for days.

I made an appointment yesterday with my primary care doc for a telehealth visit, because all I wanted was a prescription for cough medicine with codeine, which is the only thing that’s ever killed my coughs. Well, according to her, codeine is out of fashion and pharmacies don’t even stock it. But she wanted me to come in anyhow so she could listen to my lungs; she was concerned about the prospect of pneumonia. So I went in.

Got tested for flu and COVID (both negative); lungs are fine, although it’s hard to “breathe deep” when doing so triggers a coughing fit. She gave me prescriptions for benzonatate and albuterol and advised otherwise to rest and drink plenty of fluids.

(For the record, I’ve already gone through a gallon of various juices since Monday.)

Anyway—all this is by way of explaining today’s earworm: Vivian Blaine singing “Adelaide’s Lament” from Guys & Dolls.

Obviously, a poisen has developed a cold.

 

Our Lady

While in Paris I did go to see Notre Dame. I didn’t do it last year because honestly the videos of it engulfed in flames in 2019 were so horrifying that I just couldn’t. I could see it encased in scaffolding on my taxi ride to my hotel and just left it at that.

They’re working like crazy to get it fully restored in time for the Olympics next year. You can’t go inside, but they’ve got panels along the side documenting their efforts. It must feel amazing to be among the craftspeople repairing and recreating the structure and ornaments that have stood there for nearly a millennium.

Here’s what I could see.

I love the gargoyles.

 

 

You won't find everything...

I gave you a report on Galeries Lafayette, the iconic department store in Paris. But I also went this time to la Samaritaine, which with Galeries, le Bon Marché and au Printemps, formed the apex quartet of consumerism in the city. I vaguely recall buying a cotton top at au Printemps on a trip there in the 90s, and I made a pass through le Bon Marché in 2018, because it was between my hotel and le musée de l’Armée. But I couldn’t recall having been to la Samaritaine, so this time I went there.

Originally built in 1869 as a dress shop, the store expanded physically as it expanded its merchandise. Eventually, you could buy anything from ladies clothing to lawnmowers there (rather like Sears, as I think of it), lending truth to its slogan “On trouve tout à la Samaritaine” (you can find everything at the Samaritaine). It was decidedly more downmarket from the likes of Galeries or Bon Marché, which was evident from a display of 60s and 70s commercials they had.

(Actress looks more like Princess Margaret, but still pretty good.)

(The part I saw in the store starts at 0:44.)

The store declined throughout the latter part of the 20^th Century, and closed in 2005. It was eventually acquired by Bernard Arnault and a part of his LVMH conglomerate; Arnault poured seven years and nearly $900M into renovations before it reopened a little over two years ago. This time round, it is definitely not a middle-class mecca, and you will not find a whiff of a lawnmower anywhere near it. It struck me as a Galeries Lafayette manqué, just with fewer floors and less space, but pretty much the same merch. Viz:

It does have beautiful Art Nouveau touches from its origins, and the glass roof ensures it’s flooded with light, even on an overcast day.

But—as with GL—it’s not clear to me who would actually buy there, outside of certain categories of foreign tourists, into none of which I fall.

 

 

Tech support

A couple of months ago, my HP Spectre laptop started going wonky; symptoms included the power cable being loose in the USB port, and it kept getting worse.

I called around to a few local computer repair places. One told me they’d be happy to take a look, for $159, and then repair. Another said that there was only one place in the area (well—in Alexandria, across Fairfax County from me) that might be able to do that kind of repair, because the power ports on HP Spectres are welded to the motherboard, and that’s a tricky repair.

So I called that place, and the geek who picked up the phone was in his absolute element, being able to nerd-splain to me what such a repair involved. The key elements for me were that the operation would take at least a week (I was headed out to the Balkans in days), and the cost was not fixed. Coud be $this, could be $$$that, depending on what they needed to do.

So I ended up sending it to HP, where for $453 they replaced the motherboard (warrantee expired in April, one year after I bought it). I have to say that their service is fine—they did what they said they would do, when they said they would; they sent me super packing materials for shipping (including tape to seal the box); seems like it’s fixed.

(Fortunately, my previous laptop was still operational; that’s what I took with me on the trip.)

But hear me out: they replaced the motherboard. That means I have to reinstall everything—ev er-y-thing—on my machine. I moved all the files off before I shipped but they stripped all the apps, as well. I had to reinstall Office365; have to find and reinstall Bitdefender, Slack, Dropbox, SnagIt—even my bloody printer driver (which, between Microsoft and HP, is driving me batty). Also—I have to log into everything once again, meaning I have to remember, find or reset every single one of those passwords.

Furthermore—why has everything (Chrome, Firefox, Outlook, File Explorer) gone Darth Vader? They're all in dark mode, and I have to hunt out the settings to change them back to light. Plus, I had to stop Word and Outlook from feeding me predictive text. Ugh.

Technology is, as Dylan Thomas said of politics, bloody awful.

 

 

Gratitude Monday: timing

My flight home from Paris was a plague ship. Everyone around me was coughing; the whole spectrum from dry to wet.

So of course I came down with a sore throat/cough/cold the day after I landed.

It’s just a cold, but it sucks the energy right out of me and makes it really hard to even talk.

So what am I grateful for today? I’m thankful that I didn’t get sick until I got home; that I didn’t have to deal with this while I was in Europe.