last day of the year

I'm always reflective at the end of anything. Graduations. Birthdays. Jobs. Years.

This one, like so many of the recent past, has been filled with a bit too much anxiety.

I wonder almost everyday how I can afford my life and continue to live where I do. And whatever concerns my son, concerns me even more.

But the things that make me smile continue to outweigh the ones that don't. A part-time job. Family. Friends. Health. New York City. A weight of 125.8 (thank-you Saks for the residual benefit of exercise). And getting to see my son regularly, who infuriates me sometimes, but makes me laugh regularly.

I've never loved New Year's Eve. So much pressure to have a great night. Alexander goes to a party with his college friends, many he hasn't seen since graduation as they live out-of-state. My evening is more quiet. 

Two good friends (Robyn and Linda) come over to watch a movie.The dress is casual, the make-up little. We toast the new year over glasses of Prosecco. Overdose on sushi. Watch Phoenix, a so-so PPV movie. Eat cookies and ice-cream. Talk some. And end the evening before any ball drops.

A friend of mine sends me this email:

here’s to many more great evenings of theater, movies, star photos, deep conversations, superficial conversations, and raucous laughter shared in 2016!

So I pass the same sentiment to all of you. Happy happy New Year.

past necessities

In the middle of a busy day, I end up cleaning out a shelf of my armoire.

CD's. DVD's. A "sock" covering for an early iPod. And even a Supertape 8MM Video Hi-Grade Metal HG-60.

How quickly the world has changed.

My new computer has no CD drives. I can use a flash drive to transfer information. Or even dropbox or iCloud.

I never put info on a DVD anymore. I can barely remember what I used it for.

My computer screen, at 21.5 inches, is larger than the 19 inch TV I had for many years.

And those big video cameras that used 8MM Video are long gone. Now I can use my small phone to video most things.

As I throw away these items, I am briefly reminded of the memories they evoke.

The CD I made for my dad of all the songs I knew he'd love.

The first few years of Alexander's life, sporadically recorded.

Backing up data onto a CD, long before the word cloud, used as a noun, meant anything other than a white or grey mass in the sky.

Alexander's first iPod, received as a Bar Mitzvah gift in 2005. By then, I was on my second iPod; this time a nano.

The many hours I spent making a tape of songs and then creating a story around the songs to give to Eric, when I first started seeing him back in 1989.

All this makes me wonder about the future.

• Will landlines still exist?
• Will today's mobile phones seem archaic against the phones of the future?
• Will interactive TV's be in every home  allowing us to click on a TV character and get the actor's name, background, other roles, etc?
• Will scheduled programming still exist or will everything be on-demand?
• Will everything be wireless?
• Will money still exist or will all cash be virtual?
• Will my mom finally get an iPhone?

really, american express?

I finally buy a new computer. 

My 2009 MacBook Pro has slowed to the point of near death. In people years, it's probably approaching 100. It moves at a snail's pace. Forgets or ignores things I command it to do. And never acts 100% alert.

After much debate between another laptop or a desktop, I fall in love with the gorgeous 21.5 inch retina-display iMac. It's a much better value, and since I don't travel much and do have an iPad, this is the better choice for me.

I decide to use my Amex points that have been accumulating since my last computer purchase. Amex has sent an email telling me that through the end of the year I can get 20% off; that's 160 points for every dollar spent vs. the normal 200 points per dollar.  This  compels me to buy the computer now. 

I opt to buy directly through Apple, since they will match the Best Buy price of $1,399 (vs. the $1,499 on the Amex rewards site).  I order the computer. It comes two days later, and after a painful migration and a few problems that eventually get solved, my new computer is up and running. I call Amex to apply the points to my account.

That's when I learn that in order to qualify for the 20% discount, I would have had to have purchased the computer through the Amex Membership Awards site. If I am just applying points to my Amex bill, the 20% discount doesn't apply.

The unhelpful supervisor at Amex, Genei from North Carolina, won't budge.

But then I learn that the points used directly against my card, and not through a specific purchase on the Rewards site, are always valued at 166 points to the dollar — that's 17% less than the Rewards site where it's normally 200 points to the dollar.

So I ask, "Why would anyone then purchase directly on your site?"  "For the convenience," Genei answers.

But I'm thinking, it's not for the convenience. It's because no one knows.

So that's why I'm writing this. DON'T EVER BUY AN ITEM on the Amex site using points. Just have the points applied to your account after purchasing somewhere else.

Now you know.

professional courtesy

I go to the bank to deposit four checks.

The ATM eats my checks, then spits out this message:

Really? The money was not deposited into my account and I no longer have the checks.

I call the 888 number. I go through a 40 minute question/answer scrutiny.  In the end, I am told that the stated totality of the checks will be temporarily added to my account as a "professional courtesy." A claim will be filed and I should hear back in "7 to 10 business days."

How nice. 

I want to yell, "How could this happen in the first place? What if you never find my checks? Will I still get your professional courtesy?"

Instead I just say thank-you, and leave grateful that I hadn't deposited cash.

xmas movie day

As I do every Christmas, I invite some friends over to watch movies.

Three things are different this year:

1. I've seen all the big movies so only the smaller, quiet ones are left.
2. I host earlier because I am working tomorrow.
3. I opt against taking pictures this year because most prefer that I don't.

After some debate and consultation, I choose The Hateful Hate for the first movie with a few warnings ... the movie is long (three hours), violent and slow (at least the first half which I've already seen). Most decide to skip this film, with one writing:

as much as I love you I can not sit through 3 hours of anything

The small group eventually comes down to those who like Tarantino. Around noon, Jill, Shari and her husband Stew arrive.

Stew finds his chair comfortable and soon falls asleep. I read old People and EW magazines. Jill stays focused but does ask, "Can you fast-forward?" And Shari follows the film despite half-watching.  The second half keeps us more interested. But still, no one ranks this among Tarantino's best.  This group leaves sometime after three.

Around four, Carol and her friend Ajit, Robyn and Susan arrive. We watch 45 Years, a smart, well-acted film that everyone enjoys.  

I only wish it were a little whiter and a little colder. Mid-60's just doesn't feel like Christmas. But good friends more than make up for the non-holiday weather.

t'was the day before christmas

and the weather outside is frightful... but not in the way the song suggests.

Holiday lights sparkle throughout midtown.

A Christmas wreath sits above the entrance to St. Patrick's Cathedral.

And people walk the streets without coats.

\

I get an email today from Bellmarc that says, in part, 

I wanted to let you know that the East Side and West Side offices will be closing next week.

I am sorry to break this news to you in an email, but this has happened suddenly and i couldn't reach everyone by phone.

This really doesn't have much of an impact on me, as I gave up my short-lived career in real estate a while ago. But it will have a profound affect on many others.

Yup, it sure doesn't feel all that Christmas-y right now.

how can I annoy her...let me count the ways

Alexander has developed a new game. 

He deliberately does things that he knows will annoy me. And though I know exactly what he's doing, he gets to me every time.

Sure, frequently my son doesn't make his bed. The dishwasher can sit un-emptied for days unless I unload it. And the shirts Alexander plans on taking to the cleaners can pile up before he thinks to take them across the street to be laundered. But these are not the kind of things I'm referring to.

I'll start with intentional use of very bad grammar.

Alexander has been trained well. Great schools. Rigorous classes on sentence structure, word usage, and basic grammar. But still, just to irk me, my well-educated son might say, "That don't matter none. He's a great player." I try to ignore this, but can't.

I'll have my back to Alexander and he'll come up to me and tap me on the shoulder, knowing this makes me cringe.

Or he'll peer over my shoulder with his head inches from mine, pretending to be interested in something I'm doing on the computer, and say, "Hey, what are we working on here?" 

Sometimes when I speak Alexander will totally ignore me. I can't distinguish between his being deliberate or this being just habit.

And while Alexander's dining manners are excellent, he'll chew loudly and slurp his soup just to see how long it takes before I scream, "STOP IT."

Or I'll open my mouth, about to speak, and before I say one word, Alexander will put up his hand, palm facing out, and shout, "Shoosh!" He'll do this when I'm clearly interrupting nothing at all that he is doing.

If I didn't know better, I'd think this was my son's strategy for getting me to move out. But I'm sure he's smarter than that.