Grandma
Nothing ever was the same for my mom's parents ever since the car crash about 4-5 years ago. Grandpa never did walk again, and barely was able to talk sometimes. Grandma had already showed signs of dementia/Alzheimer's, but the accident seemed to quicken the disease's progress and she ended up in the same care center not all that long before Grandpa passed. Then she was "officially" diagnosed, and it's just been rough since then.
Last night, she passed sometime during her sleep. The best way to go, for sure, but it's still hard. I see it as pretty bittersweet though; on the down side, we will surely miss her, and now all four of my grandparents are waiting on the other side. But on the plus side, neither she or my grandpa are alone anymore, and she's no longer suffering from memory loss and such. She was actually doing better than usual, according to one of my aunts, and so it was definitely a shock to get the phone call from my mom this morning. But I'm so glad that it will bring our family together again to reflect on all the good memories of both my grandparents.
I'll be in Utah for a few days. Everyone be good, and please, take advantage of every opportunity to tell your loved ones how much you love them. You only have them in this mortal realm for so long, and even though we see each other again in Heaven, it's a long time in between to wait.
Update #2
Well crap, I should've known it wouldn't be that simple. It's my fault, really, for being so naive. When I asked the guy if I'd still be part of the family plan and just have to sign a new contract for me, he said yes. We both misunderstood each other, because in order for me to get the deal on the Razr, I'd have to split off and *then* sign a new contract, thus paying ~$50 per month instead of just $10 for my line. So I'm not getting a new phone until June, when we can upgrade and renew our contracts all together. In the meantime, I've taken my current phone apart to let it dry for awhile. Maybe it will resurrect like my mom's old one did. I think I blogged that a long time ago, if you're interested in searching. :]
I'll also probably be getting a calling card because it's driving me nuts not having long distance. :|
Update
...so it wasn't *right* after I got back. :P
Turns out my poor old LG VX3200 is officially "toast". And that's a direct quote from the guy at Verizon, which I find hilarious because that's the exact word everyone's been using. Lol. I also find it hilarious that I knew exactly what to try before going in (removing the battery, pressing and holding shortcut buttons), and so I kept telling him "oh ya, I tried that already". :] I also mentioned that someone else had mentioned something about taking out the bottom charging port, but he was just like, "uhhhh, I dunno who told you
that, because we can't" and we both laughed.
I must have been the easiest sale they made that day, because he asked if I would be interested in a replacement, and I replied that I had already been planning on it just in case. I totally threw off his sales pitch because he paused for a second before asking what I was looking for. Heh. I love it. The offer for upgrading is a $100 pink Razr with a $50 mail-in rebate; I'm sold. The only trick is that I have a California number that I would really prefer to keep, or at least get a new California number since most of the people on my contacts list are from Cali. In order to do that here in Idaho, I would've had to go to Idaho Falls, half an hour away. But luckily my mom was already planning on going to the mall in Bakersfield today, so she's going to get the phone there, work out all the details since we're on a family plan, and mail me my new phone ASAP. YAY! I cannot wait to not be cell-less anymore. :D
Also, I spent the day with my aunt and uncle and their little 2-year-old. We went shopping, ran some other errands, and then went to Green Canyon hot springs last night. Soooo nice and relaxing in this cold. But at least it most likely won't get as cold as it has been again until next season. It's been reeeeeally nice, in the 30's and 40's rather than the
negative 20's and 30's.
Vista
Well, I'm on a computer that has the new Windows Vista OS installed, and I must say, it's pretty nice. I haven't done more than just surf the web and such, but it's been without any hitches and it's all shiny and pretty. :] Might have to look into it once I get a new laptop...eventually...
Oh, and I'm off to Verizon for either a fix for this phone, or a new phone altogether. Updates when I get back.
*insert nonspecific expletive here*
Well crap. My cell phone luck continues to amaze (read: frustrate) me. About a year and a half ago, my parents finally decided to get a family plan with Verizon that includes them, my brother, and I. Only a little less than a month later, my cousin decided that she didn't already have enough crap of her own that she had to take my stuff, including my cell phone, and lie about it, knowing there was no way for me to prove it and that her mom wouldn't believe me. Great. I'd already used my well-earned money on a brand-new phone, so I was quite limited on funds for a replacement. Luckily, the Verizon here in Rexburg had a used phone that one of their former employees had used. Unfortunately, she had also *abused* it a bit. :| But I took good care of it, bought a new cover, and only dropped it once or twice quite by accident. By my guess, it's probably 3 years old now, so it's been a pretty good phone, all minor complaints aside.
Well, to get to the point, for whatever reason, it decided that tonight was the night to take a turn for the worst. I was trying to eat my ramen and cradle it under my chin, but I guess it got tired of me eating in front of it, because it took a nose dive into my bowl. Now, there wasn't really anything left, so I thought it would be fine. Wiped it off, made sure there wasn't anything in the battery chamber (there wasn't), and then tried to apologize to my mom on the other line, only to find that i couldn't hear her. Not because I'd lost the signal, mind you, but because it just wasn't sending or receiving any vocal feedback. :|
Symptoms (it's an LG VX3200):
Says "- Car Kit -" at the bottom instead of "- Vib and High -".
No beeping noises when I push buttons anymore.
No ringing OR vibrating when someone calls.
Caller can hear it ringing on their end, but neither of us can hear each other when I answer. (This goes for when I have the hands-free hooked up, too.)
Pressing and holding the * key no longer sets it to silent/vibrate.
Phone thinks it's charging when the cord is NOT hooked to it.
Does anyone have *any* idea of what I can do?!?!?! I already tried removing and re-inserting the battery. :|
Winter Sports
First of all, I have a confirmation on
Rush Hour 3 in the form of a
teaser trailer on YouTube. Why must they assault my ears with Chris Rock and Jackie Chan singing!??!?! >.< Lol.
Secondly, I'm slacking off in my posting again, so I think it's time to bring the blog back up to speed.
Last Saturday was pretty fun, I must say. A group of us from my LDS ward went up the hill past the ever-progressing temple to a currently snow-buried agricultural field that has a good sized hill. It happens to be perfect for both types of sledders: the funloving and the insane. Which type am I? Heh, well...I plead insanity on grounds of letting myself be coaxed into taking the insane run first. I now know better for next time. See, the fun end of the hill was nice and long and semi-shallow; just steep enough to keep a sled going all the way to bottom at a decent speed. The insane end, however, was short and steep enough to literally be a cliff. Everyone who had gone down by the time I took the challenge had done just fine. We were using inner tubes, as regular sleds were out of the question for the sheerness of it. We decided to try a new technique, putting a smaller, regular-sized tube inside one big enough for several of us to sit around so that we wouldn't fall through the middle. Well, it didn't do much good, because when they pushed us off, they threw our weight off. Rather than keeping the weight to the back, which would have kept us all successfully on and safe, all our weight ended up on the left side, where I was on the very outside. All I remember is seeing the edge, starting to go off of it, and then my face was planted in the snow, and I somehow ended up on the right side of the jumble of all of us. It was kickin' rad, but I paid for it starting later that day. I found out how I'd fallen by the soreness I felt all along my right side and my entire neck. I'm all better now, fortunately, and I once again didn't break any bones. Next time, it's the shallow run for me.
Saturday was also the Best of Guitars Unplugged, which is always fun. The performers who made it in were pretty good, though the ones who did Snow Patrol's
Chasing Cars could have done a bit better job in my honest opinion. The lead singer was just off-key enough to drive me insane, and their backup instrumentation was lacking. But meh. Great job for putting themselves out there in front of a thousand or more of us, their fellow students. I'm gonna work on a number for next Fall's concert. Hopefully they'll let me have a bass from BYU Provo and a 12-year-old drummer. :D
Also, I'm finding myself being "fired" far too often these days. You all need to be more convincing/specific/whatever when it comes to certain things!!! I'd have made a bigger effort to watch it, despite the lack of TV in my apartment, had I only known!!! (*cough*Heroes*cough*)
