Busy Bee

Today was a busy one (so why am I still awake???) I made another Hummingbird Cake, bread dough for Pigs in a Blanket, Lavender Iced Tea, and Banana Pineapple Popsicles. Not sure yet how the pops turned out, they weren't frozen when I last looked at them. I used the leftover crushed pineapple and a ripe banana for them.

I spent the past couple of days without the use of my cell phone (though I didn't realize it for a bit). I had noticed that my poor old Razr wasn't holding a battery charge too long these days, and then it wouldn't keep service bars, even when I was at home.

I looked at it Wednesday afternoon and it had absolutely no bars. I waited it out, thinking maybe there was a service outage in the area or something, because it wouldn't even work when I walked around outside. I emailed my carrier Thursday evening and they responded by telling me that it was likely because of some sort of obstruction; i.e.; walls, etc. (you have to be totally anal when corresponding with phone companies and not leave anything at all to the imagination).

So I waited til Michael got home from work and used his phone (different provider--all bars lit up) and called my carrier. After trying to sell me a $250 network extender, to which I replied was ridiculous and that I shouldn't have to purchase one when I had no issues before!, the lady I spoke to said that I needed to upgrade my phone. As she was rattling along, she casually mentioned that, given the age of my phone (3 years), that it was probably pointless to try the basic troubleshooting steps that they would usually use like updating my roaming capabilities (which I had done less then 2 weeks ago) or removing the battery for 60 seconds then reinstalling it.

Then, as an afterthought, she asked if I wanted her to walk me through those steps.
I said yes, of course, because I don't want to part with my phone just yet if I don't have to. And at that point I was still unsure if getting another phone would solve my issue... Anyway, she had me try to update my roaming, which I couldn't since I had no bars to dial out with.

So I popped the battery out for 60 seconds, then put it back in. VOILA! There were my bars!! I went ahead and updated my roaming, again, because she informed me that it is good to do that as often as possible. I thanked her for her help and have had full bars ever since. It's almost like having a new phone, except I didn't have to redo my contacts or music!

I have also been keeping myself busy the last several days signing up for free samples, survey sites, etc., online. I came across a few good ones that I will post about later (the hour is finally catching up to me and my eyelids are getting heavy).

So for now, I am off to sleep. I would read first to relax, but the only book I have right now is The Sound and The Fury and I have to say... I might have an easier time comprehending a stereo manual written in German. That is yet another rant for another day. Good night!