the white banana

Though I don't read often, Amy Tan is one of the authors that I have enjoyed reading growing up. Being of Chinese descent, she writes about many things that I can relate to, on a level that most people cannot understand.

The latest "I-can-relate" mention in her book "The Bonesetter's Daughter", was a reference to how the narrator's mother counted with her fingers. The Chinese counting style is by pointing first to one's own baby finger and bending each finger down toward the palm, whereas the American style is to keep fingers open and spread out. It was another one of those things that made me chuckle to myself. It also made me realize that the author must be very observant to pick up these things. Heck, I've never realized that's how my mom counts until the author pointed it out.

it's the weirdest feeling...

Today, I deleted a friend's email address from my address book. It was the strangest feeling to do that. It's not the first time that I deleted an address of someone, usually because I no longer keep in touch with that person. But this was the first time that I deleted an email address because the person had died.

She died in a motorcycle accident. She did all the right things - wore a helmet, and was slowing to a stop at an intersection. It was a big SUV behind her that crushed her up against another SUV in front of her. She didn't have a chance.

I've never had anyone close to me pass away. I have been lucky, I guess. All I keep thinking about is what an exceptional person she was and how much she will be missed. She was about 5'2", skinny but super strong. The license plate on her car was "GI Jane", reflective of her captain status in the Army. She made it through Iraq and came back in one piece, but it irks me that after all that she has accomplished, it was a stupid driver that took her life.

So, yes, I have these mixed feelings about how I should and should not feel. Maybe I am still in shock. I do know, however, that this was just another life taken too soon and for all the wrong reasons.

Born wacky, I guess...

My parents and I live in the same town. Them on the SW end of town and I on the NE end of town. It isn't that I can't stand being around my parents, so I chose to live at the polar opposite end of Eugene - it just happened that the place we have now had the best features. Anyhoo, last night, I decided to pay a visit to my parents. After all, I haven't seen them in several weeks and mom had just returned home from another one of her long business trips.

So upon my arrival, mom is in the office fiddling with her new laptop - I assumed so that she could work on the stuff she brought home from the office again. Dad was migrating between a show on OPB and the kitchen, where he had been installing new kitchen cabinets. I give mom and dad hugs while mom explains that she's having trouble with the laptop. I offer to help troubleshoot the problem and follow mom into the office.

It appeared that the keyboard wasn't functioning correctly - keys weren't assigned correctly so that typing "ABC" came out "q5D". Mom thinks that the problem was because she hadn't installed a new Windows update when prompted early in the week. I run the anti-virus software and fiddle around in the Control Panel looking for the usual suspects. Nothing worked. I tried running the Help Tool for answers, but no luck either since there wasn't a clear index, and I couldn't do a keyword search with a messed up keyboard.

Then I came upon a link to a LiveChat Support. (yes, I realize that my keyboard wasn't working correctly) Hey, why not give it a shot? Mom insists that it's a problem with the Windows update but at the same time, she is snickering at me for trying to chat on that keyboard. I try to type "keyboard not working", hoping that enough letters would show up correctly to get the point across. Instead, it shows up "7ehb*a4d np5 w@%}n'". Yea, good luck with that, I thought. I couldn't even type my name and had to use "Chr!s" as my username to start the chat. I tried typing a simple "help!", but that came out "n#8!". This might be a long night....

As I was thinking this, I can see that the support person was running a remote diagnostic on the laptop. He types : "Press NumLoc"

DOH!

postscript....

Back when I first resurrected this blog, I wrote about the strange phone calls I used to receive at work (see March 2006 entry). A couple of weeks ago, I found out why.....

We were channel surfing at home when a commercial came on about a new medical research study that a local firm was conducting. D had already changed the channel, but I asked him to turn back, out of sheer curiosity. Moments later, there it was..... the great mystery had been solved! A For-More-Info phone number flashed across the screen in giant, white block letters. It just hit me! That phone number was exactly 1 digit off from my old work number. Instead of a 6 in the prefix, it was a 9, which on a phone keypad, one number is immediately above the other... the great mystery has been solved!!!