You Can't Get Lost - Day 19

 Hello All,

Verizon has been quite the exercise.  

Background

I went to their store close to Bob and Loraine's as soon as I got into town on Wednesday.  I had nearly run out of hotspot time and it was time to go onto an unlimited time plan for me.    If you don't want to read about Verizon, Skip down to "Important Happening of the Day."

Details of Verizon Plans you don't have to read if you don't want to.

I have several accounts, mine and Sally's, and an old tablet which never gets used anymore.  I do not play games, but watch YouTubes a lot (I own a motorhome, have a smoker and am learning about Sous Vide, so I watch a lot of  how-to's) and I am constantly looking up facts and details.  I also have a iPhone 8, which is only 4G, so I'm not using the 5G services.  However, I end up doing a lot of hotspotting when I travel because most (all?) campgrounds have lousy WiFi connections and it's difficult to log-on to many.  (Hotspotting is using my phone to connect to the broadband network (LTE) and then use the phone as a private server for my laptop.  I have not been able to connect my laptop to any network so far on this trip, except here at the Bob and Loraine's.)

So, Verizon has four Unlimited plans.  The Start plan which covers most everything the average person needs, but doesn't allow hotspotting. Verizon's next two plans are the "Do Games" and "Do More".  I want the Do More because it is more data oriented and allows hotspotting.  (The fourth plan is the "Get More", which includes music, more storage and delivering chocolate cake and ice cream to your door on demand.  I'm not That keen on chocolate cake, so I don't need to go there...now, if it had been Rum Cake and Tillamook French Vanilla Ice Cream, I might have bought into it....)  

Fun With Verizon Reps

Anyway, I go into the store with a pretty good idea of what I want.  I wait, and wait, and finally sit down with a nifty 25-28 year old hotshot who is pretty aware what people want so he doesn't have to really listen to what they tell him.  I explain my wife who own's "Sally's iPhone 8" is no longer with us but I want to maintain the account for a while longer, but "Thom's iPhone 8+" needs the "Do More".  And remove the tablet.  Three things.  1, 2, 3.  "I gotcha all set up."  Great.  I go home.  I'm on Start, Sally is on Do More and the tablet is still there.  

[Next morning, I go in.  I explain to nifty hotshot #2 that my wife's phone does not need hotspotting, I do, so change her's to the Start plan and mine to the Do More plan and remove the tablet.  Gotcha.  I get home that night and Sally is on the Start Plan, but so am I, so I don't have any hotspotting capability at all.  I finally get into my Verizon account and change my plan on my own to from Start to Do More and this morning (Saturday), I have hotspot capabilities again.]

Important Happening of the Day

So, what else happened today (Thursday, March 17, Happy Saint Patrick's Day).  I called cousin Merle Sykora.  (Sally's mother had one brother, who was killed at Attu Island during WWII without children.  Sally's father had two brothers, both without children, so Sally and Sandy had no direct cousins.  Betty's father John Sykora was one of 15. John's  brother Frank had seven children, the youngest of whom was Merle.  That makes Merle Sally's "1st cousin once removed" and her closest relative outside of Sandy's family.  We talked for a few minutes and I said I'd like to come over some time while I was here in Phoenix and see him and Tom.  He insisted that I come over this afternoon and (because he was tired of cooking) go out and have dinner.  

Merle was a professor of Art at Saint Cloud State University.  At 85, Merle is active, has a great memory, especially for people and their stories, has a wide range of interests, and is just fun to talk to.  His partner, Tom, is an architect who worked for Frank Lloyd Wright and lived at Taliesin (Wisconsin) and Taliesin West (Phoenix) for years.  He then had his own practice and he and Merle provided architecture and interior design services for his clients.  Tom is 92 and they have been together over 45 years.  They owned a house just outside of St. Cloud on the Mississippi River (that Tom designed of course, including the all the furniture.) that was hit by lightening in 2019.  In fact, the bolt entered the ground several feet from where Tom was sitting.  He is still having sight and hearing problems from that.  They bought a house in town and started remodeling it just in time for Covid to hit and affect the remodeling.  

They are such a wonder couple.  They have great senses of humor, deep interest in people and friends and have traveled all over the world.  And Merle is the family genealogist who has gone back to the Bohemian country where the Sykora's are from.  

They took me to a local Italian restaurant that they have gone to for years and had a special, delicious  dinner.  It was really good to see them again.  I didn't ask when they are headed back to Minnesota again, but I'll try and catch them when I'm there.  

And I won't tell you about my two exciting Walmart trips where neither one had my cereal in stock....