STANDARDIZATION WELCOME.

For days I've tried to fit my camera cord into the trapazoid slot on my camera to unload pictures into my computer. The same cord also charges my camera battery. It wouldn't fit. It defied logic. How could a cord I use every day and keep in the same place next to my computer, suddenly not fit?
 How could I  misplace something I use every day that stays next to my computer? All week, I unloaded pictures by removing the SD disk and plugging it directly into my computer. Last night, the camera battery went dead.

Desperately I searched the zillionth time.  I picked up every item from my three desks one by one again. The light bulb went off. I had used my Click Free back-up drive a week earlier. Sure enough, I'd put the camera cord into the Click Free box and the Click Free cord stayed next to my computer. Like electrical outlets, is it too much to ask that they be standardized?  It would save a lot of hair-pulling.

On the frustration meter, my credit cards were compromised over Christmas and I got new ones in the mail yesterday! Oh, happy day. It left me feeling very vulnerable when I didn't have those little pieces of plastic for ten days.  However, it made me apply for two more cards knowing I will be going to Turkey and our trip lit explained that Turkey businesses like different cards, MasterCard and Discover. Wow. I got lower interest, wonderful rewards, and no charge for overseas ATM transactions on the Discover Card. Two reasons to celebrate.
Jubilation T Cornpone!!

AIR CONDITIONED CARS

There was a time when air conditioned cars were an expensive add on from the dealer. We thoroughly enjoyed our 1972 Pontiac Convertible and didn’t get an air conditioned car until 1976.  In fact, in Southern California, you could buy a car from the dealer without a heater, which we did, once.  Who needed it?
A Bay Area friend of ours bought a brand new 1961, (I believe it was a Chrysler) with an  air conditioning unit, to take a trip from California to Boston. The device was a square container of ice mounted on the hump over the drive shaft with a fan attached to the cigarette lighter. The fan blew air over the ice to cool the air. It worked until the ice melted.  Every couple of hours, our friends had to stop and buy a new block of ice.  It was a  hoot and convinced us air conditioning would never be a standard part of a car. Now, I can’t imagine being without it. Which, in a round about way, is where I’m going this morning, to have my air conditioning repaired. A hose is plugged and condensed water wets the carpet on the passenger side when the air conditioning is running.
And carpet in cars?  Don’t get me started.
Yesterday, I experimented  with pictures around my yard to see what I could come up with and I can’t say that the following close-up has much appeal…

…when the leaf itself is so pretty.

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However, I liked this close-up shot of a gold pan.
Maybe because a gold pan wasn’t meant to be as pretty as a leaf.

The cables on Jim’s bike made an interesting shot. Kind of reminds me of when we were kids. Pageant magazine had a  monthly photo that required you to guess what the original object was from the close up. The answer was in the following issue, always a month away. No one in the family ever guessed an object correctly, but we loved trying.
The weather will soon turn wet and cold. We’ve enjoyed these sunny fall days.