Slightly Off Center

For shore

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 04:16:16 GMT

Got an email a couple of weeks ago from a fellow up on Whidbey Island; his father had bought him a gift certificate with Off Center Ceramics as a Christmas present, and he wanted to order some tumblers. Wasn't sure how many, four, maybe six, wanted ocean life patterns, but wasn't more specific. I sent him a list of possible patterns, and waited for his reply.

And waited. And waited.

Finally couldn't wait any longer, had to finish glazing and load the kiln, so I picked out ten patterns featuring sea life and shore birds, and hoped he'd see something he liked.

Naturally, he emailed me Thursday night, right after I'd finished loading the kiln.

I sent him the list I'd made, directed him to my Instagram to see pictures. He chose seven of the ten, plus one that was already fired and in stock.

And ordered three more for my June firing.

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Weren't we just here a second ago?

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 04:02:13 GMT

Yep, loading a glaze kiln again. Had so much work left over from my last firing that a quick week's throwing to fill the gaps, and about three days' glazing, and I'm ready to go again. Jon bailed out of his scheduled firing, so I loaded up the kiln on Thursday. Won't be firing until Monday, though; had to prep the van today, Market tomorrow, and Sunday is Denise's birthday. But things are all set to light the kiln off Sunday night, and I even got the leftovers counted and put away and cleaned up the glazing room, so there will be less busywork on Monday.

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My new hero

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 05:28:43 GMT

Driving in to the studio this morning, found traffic stopped just short of the Coburg Road intersection. Big commercial truck in the the left lane with its flashers going while its driver, a burly, grizzled guy in a hi-vis green shirt, shepherded a mallard hen and her ducklings across the road. Waited until all the little ones made it up over the curb, giving the last straggler a boost when it couldn't quite make it.

Then got back in his Delta Sand & Gravel truck and drove away.

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Room enough, and time

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 04:21:54 GMT

Had a woman stop in last Saturday, said she'd been by before, looking at pots, but never bought any, because there just wasn't room in her tiny apartment. But now she's gotten a house, just moved in. I have cupboards! she declared.

And bought a set of four soup bowls.

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Hairy potter

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 03:55:17 GMT

My friend Jon was digging through his stuff, looking for baby pictures of his daughter Elizabeth, when he came across this pic.

That's me, sometime in the mid-1980's, in grad school.

So much hair.

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Playing to the gallery

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 03:50:14 GMT

So I mentioned in the firing post that a good third of the kiln was work for my gallery in Olympia. It was an enormous order: 18 mugs, 12 soup bowls, a dozen serving bowls of various sizes, eight pasta bowls, three each colanders and honey pots. Way too much to pack and ship.

Time for a road trip!

Denise usually accompanies me on these expeditions. We trade off driving--I get us through Portland, she takes the boring stretches of central Washington, and we have a nice lunch at a restaurant near Childhood's End. This time, though, she's been having tendon pain in her left leg, so wasn't up for a long drive. I got to do the trip solo.

Well, except for my navigator. This is Brewer, the bear we found in a Milwaukee Goodwill. We braved the grey overcast, which, predictably, turned to torrential rains somewhere around central Washington. (It always rains in Centralia, for some reason.) Headed out early, got through Portland without slowing down, arrived at the gallery around 12:30. Unloaded the boxes, caught Chinese lunch in a little cafe next door--$15 for a small serving of Ginger Chicken, including tip. Quite tasty, though I could have done with less celery. Stopped at the Costco in Tumwater to gas up, and was back on the road by 1:00.

Stopped in at Georgies Ceramic Supply in Portland to buy a hole-cutter. I'd broken mine, couldn't seem to rig a replacement. I miss having their store in Eugene; I didn't use them a lot, but it was handy to have supplies available just across town. They've made a distribution deal with Wildling Studio Arts to carry their clay and a selection of tools, but it's by nature a limited supply.

3 pm meant afternoon rush hour traffic in Portland, things were stop-and-go until Wilsonville, but once past, the freeway was pretty clear all the way home. Arrived in Eugene a little after 6 pm, to a supper of leftover quiche, and spent an hour in the studio finishing or covering pots from Monday. And went to bed early.

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Tempest

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 03:48:13 GMT

I hate to miss a Market, even when the weather looks sketchy. Especially when I've promised a couple of people the previous week that I'd be there next time. So despite a prediction of 100% chance rain, I started up the van and rolled down town. Weather was actually dry as I set up the booth, though I put up the walls anyway. I remembered the weights this time, but forgot the bag with my show book. It's got the inventory, really helpful when someone asks if I have a particular item--I can look it up in the book first, before digging through boxes. So I stowed everything under cover, then, instead of driving the van to the parking garage, I drove home to get the bag.

Made the round trip in under half an hour, driving through brief rain showers on Delta Highway, but nothing of note, and finished my set-up only ten minutes later than usual, plenty of time to go to Farmers Market.

I delivered the new tip jar to Abdul first thing in the morning; How much do I owe you? he asked. Two lunches, I said, One this week and one next. So I treated myself to a combination plate: beef shish kebab, saffron potato, carrot/raisin rice pilaf with chicken and cooked spinach. So nice to have a hot meal on a damp day.

Had a lot of empty spaces around, nobody on either side of my booth, and only six vendors on our block at all. My first sale wasn't until almost 11, but it was a pasta serving bowl, so it felt like a good start.

Lots of familiar faces--Wilson and Renate, the elderly couple who used to buy small plates for their grandchildren, now just stop by to say hello. It's lovely to see them still out and moving at their age. I also traded hugs with Vanessa, former Market PR manager, now working for the Oregon Country Fair. We talked a bit, she picked up a hummingbird stew mug, said she'd come back for it later, never did. It's kind of a thing, she never does.

Had better luck with Julia; her husband Alan used to be a news host on KLCC in my early days. They've been using one of my large covered casseroles for compost scraps for years now, finally managed to break it, so she bought a new one, with lions on the lid.

My photographer, Jon Meyers, stopped in, testing out a new video camera. We talked about my need for new jury photos, made plans to schedule a shoot after my next firing. He also wanted pictures of the loading process, so I promised to give him a call when it's time to fill up the kiln again.

Sold a lot of work to college and high school-aged young women. A rooster mug, for one's dad, who raised chickens. A hen for another's mom and chickadee mug for dad, after which her boyfriend bought a fox mug for himself. And a high-school girl who absolutely had to have the piggy bank, and paid me $50 in small bills, her Easter money, which did wonders for my change supply after four other customers paid with fifties.

Sun came out by lunch time, and I actually pinned back the front edges of my booth walls to let in the light and give better sight lines to passing pedestrians. Seemed to work, sales were pretty brisk, and I thought we might actually finish the day dry. But around 2:30 black clouds started blowing in, and by 3 pm, the rain had started again. Wind was blustering too, snapped the walls of the booth hard enough that I took down the cookie jars and pitchers from the top shelf. (I'd had them knocked off and broken in the past.) Made my last sale around 3:30, at which point it was bucketing down, so I boxed up the cookies and pitchers and started organizing for take-down.

I was able to keep all the boxes inside, packing up, but they still got a little rained-on going out to the van. The booth, however, was soaked, so much so that rain was leaking in through the roof everywhere, and by the time I got everything in the van, my coat was soaked, my had was dripping, pants legs sodden. The only thing still dry was my socks. Mad props to Carhartt work boots; damn good water-proofing.

Was it worth it? $800 in sales, nearly half cash. For that, I'll drip dry.

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Open

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 03:11:34 GMT

Got the kiln opened Friday morning early--had to get finished before Denise's 3 pm ultrasound--has been having new pains in her left hamstring tendon that needed to get looked at. So I levered the kiln car out at about 8:30 am to find another lovely firing. Had a little bubble of oxidation mid-back, and of course some around the door at the bottom, but not enough to affect the gallery order nor the eight-place table setting.

Not entirely sure what temperature we reached; definitely hit cone 9 at the bottom peep, but the cone 11 in the top cone pack cracked somehow, with the top sticking to the cone 10. Which means the 10 was prevented from bending normally, and although the tip never touched down, we could have been anywhere between 9-1/2 and 10-1/2. Pots at the very top didn't show much sign of glaze running or image blurring, so I think I called it about right.

Tea was glazing for his Showcase fire, so every flat surface and ware board in the studio was full up except for the table by the kiln. We had to pause unloading periodically to sort and box pots, clearing off the table, but we were still down to the empty bowls layer before 11 am. Took a few pics of my special orders, but mostly concentrated on getting them out of the kiln.

Annie came in to help unload the empty bowls, so she wrapped and boxed while I unloaded and sanded bottoms. As a result, we finished unloading the entire kiln by noon, cleared out of the room by 12:30 so Tea could come in and continue glazing. Got some really nice results, even got a successful copper red bowl--an incredibly fussy glaze-- by Don Clarke, and some nice dip'n'splash pots from Jon, Johnny and Tori.

Got everything sorted and organized so I was able to deliver the plate set on Sunday, pack and ship three orders Monday after lunch, and then deliver 170 Empty Bowls to Food for Lane County later in the afternoon. Tomorrow, I drive up to Olympic to deliver my thousand-dollar gallery order.

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Bowled over

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 23:46:03 GMT

This is how many Empty Bowls were in the kiln on Monday. Literally half the load, around 150 bowls.

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One last mole

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 23:43:56 GMT

After a week of frustration, I finally got through to the last (please, God) fraud account. It was an online financial services outfit in California doing everything from debit/credit to insurance to student loans, but with a very myopic focus. Their assumption seemed to be that customer service is for their customers; to get through the automated switchboard, you needed to provide your membership information. To use online chat, you had to log in. I went around in circles with them for over a week.

Finally decided to ignore their eight options and just say Operator. No luck, system doesn't understand. I try again. Nope. Third time, I'm inspired to say Live Agent, and miracle of miracles, they put me through. I still have to choose from one of their departments, but fortunately, "Secure" isn't busy on Easter Sunday, so I get to a human being after a not-too-terrible hold. I tell the agent my story, and he immediately connects me to their dedicated Fraud department, who take my information, freeze the account and write up a fraud ticket. Then ask me if there's anything else, and I point out how difficult they make it to report fraudulent activity if you don't have an account. They seem to take my story seriously, though I wonder whether there'll be any changes going forward.

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Once more, with feeling

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 23:27:47 GMT

There's a magnolia tree in the plantings behind my Saturday Market booth. Over the years, I've watched it grow from a slender branchling (bigger than a sapling) to the overarching matriarch that shades my booth the entire season. I have the sense that, many years past, it used to bloom around the first or second week of Market; these past few years, I arrive to find the blossoms already dropped, and brown former florets littering my space. Global warming, I assume.

But it does sometimes make for a lovely opening weekend. They'd predicted a chance of rain on Saturday, but as the week progressed, the chance got smaller. By Friday night, it was only 20% in the morning; by Saturday, 3%. Sunny day, highs in the 70s, perfect market weather.

Sales started slow--a tumbler, followed by five $5 watercolor cards, then nothing for a long stretch of morning. It took until after noon to turn the page on my sale book, but after that things picked up, less than two hours until page three.

I saw a bunch of folks in Iowa Hawkeye hoodies and jackets, asked one of the men where in Iowa they were from. Cedar Rapids, he said, North Central part of the state. Told him I was somewhat familiar, from having gone to school in La Crosse, Wisconsin. My wife went to college in La Crosse! he said. I'm thinking UW-L or Western Wisconsin Tech, when he says Viterbo.

My alma mater. I tell him this, he calls her back, and we share memories. She graduated in Elementary Education in 1977, the same year I started my Art/Mathematics degree, so we just missed each other, but we had a few friends and a bunch of the nuns in common. Great fun making the connection, even more fun on Sunday when I see them all in a row at church Easter morning.

Had a nice talk with a potter from Pennsylvania. She's stopped in before, visiting her aunt and uncle in Eugene. Sadly, aunt had passed just a couple of days before she arrived, offered condolences. She greatly admired an elephant cookie jar and pasta bowl, but only brought one carry-on bag, so reluctantly left them behind. Then came back 15 minutes later to buy them, give me her address to have them shipped, and ordered four soup bowls to match.

Immediately after, I sold a octopus teapot to a college girl whose mom collects teapots, then a fox dessert plate to another for her dad. Near the end of the day, a third bought a butterfly mug for mom--Butterfly is her nickname. And then came back after talking to her brother--nickname Turtle--to get the appropriately patterned tumbler for him to give. Everybody is gonna win at Mother's/Father's day this year.

Had a large squared baking dish go out the door, on its way to Fairbanks, Alaska. Had another young woman recognize my work from Empty Bowls--her boyfriend bought her a squirrel bowl there last year. Told her I was firing bowls for this year's sale this coming week, had nearly a hundred going into the kiln. There's a lot of skill going into these, she commented, which led to a discussion about skill versus talent. So many people say, You're so talented, implying, of course, I'm not. But the thing is, while talent may be innate, skill can be acquired. I like that distinction, I'll have to remember it.

Sometime around 2:30, Abdul, the shish-kebab guy, stopped in the booth, sad-faced, miming wiping away tears. Oh no, I said, They broke it again? I've made two tip jars for him so far, average life-span a little over a year. Fortunately, I have a spare in bisque from the last time, so I tell him I can glaze it in time to fire this week, have it to him for next Saturday. He pays me in food, a good deal for both of us.

The day is winding down, when I realize I forgot to put the weights on the booth when I set up, and in fact forgot to put two of them back in after Holiday Market. Fortunately, it's a calm day as well as a sunny one, and nobody on Staff seems to have noticed. I close the day in spectacular fashion, $1142 in sales.

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Tubular

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 16:52:35 GMT

Tuesday morning, out on my trike. First stop is the credit union, to get new debit cards, reopen my online account. Denise had gotten hers Monday afternoon, but it took longer than expected to change account numbers, so we hit closing time. My plan was to pick up a prescription for Denise at Walgreens, buy celebratory donuts, check the Tuesday Lucky Number at BiMart and pick up sanding sponges for the studio.

Coming into the BiMart lot, I see a young man with a backpack squatting down next to a bike and trailer. There's a sign hanging from the bike saying, Stranded. Need new toob or I'm not going anywhere.

I make it to the bike racks before my thoughts catch up, so I circle back to him. Hey, I say, BiMart sells bike inner tubes. Come in with me and I'll buy one for you. So he wheels his bike to the rack with me, front tire obviously flat, and we go inside. I check my lucky number--no joy, no Easter-colored M&Ms for me--find the tube he needs, pick up my sanders. Talk a little about our lives--he's just gotten the bike in exchange for some work he did for someone, I moan about the ID theft mess I've been going through. His name is Chris, he's headed down to Veneta.

Tubes cost ten bucks, another couple for a can of Mountain Dew, and my newly-issued debit card performs perfectly. He has tools to fix his tire, and the gas station on the corner has air. We shake hands, I wish him luck, and go across the street to buy donuts.

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Oops

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 16:39:14 GMT

Spent a good bit of yesterday finally updating online payment methods and deposits. Got Denise's insurance updated, all the direct deposits from her inherited stock, even her social security, although too late for her March deposit, she'll have to call them today.

Thought it was all covered, then I got an email this morning. Care to guess what I forgot?

Yup. My cell phone carrier, the start of all this mess. Finally done.

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Huh

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 23:23:05 GMT

Just found out I've been waitlisted for the Anacortes Arts Festival. This after having been there--and selling extremely well--every year since 2013. I guess they really do have blind jurying, because there's no way the organization would want to pass up the 10% commission I make them.

Honestly, I was beginning to wonder whether it was time to pull back from some of my more stressful shows. Maybe they've made the decision for me?

Time will tell.

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This weekend

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 05:46:23 GMT

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Throw-a-thon

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 23:22:33 GMT

In addition to making my own bowls to donate to Empty Bowls, for the past couple of years I've been organizing a throwing and glazing event at Club Mud. I provide clay, glazes and firing, and my fellow potters step up to make and trim and glaze bowls, some using my glazes, some with their own. This year, Jon, Johnny, Annie, Tori, Wayne, Don and I threw pots; Karen stepped up to help glaze. We ended up with an additional 88 bowls for the sale.

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Doing good

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 23:10:14 GMT

Every year, Food For Lane County holds an Empty Bowls sale, a fundraiser for the food bank. I always try to give them 80-100 bowls; I've probably told this story before, how my cash-poor farmer dad always donated a calf to the church livestock auction when I was growing up. I started donating bowls as my calf-equivalents, back when we were also cash-poor. These days, we give money as well, but I still like to make bowls. I like to play around with new patterns, test glaze variations, tweak the forms. And just make stuff with no goals or expectations.

Here's a bunch of bowls going for this year's sale.

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Rogue's gallery

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 23:00:57 GMT

As I mentioned, a large part of my latest round of glazing is for a $1000 wholesale order for a gallery in Olympia. In addition to the usual mugs, soup bowls, some honey pots and colanders, they wanted a lot of serving bowls, both pasta and regular sized. I didn't get any pics of the pasta bowls--I was locked out of my phone at the time--but I have a bunch of pics of the other servers.

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How the other half lives

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 22:45:30 GMT

Specifically, the half that isn't spending all his time chasing internet thieves...

I planned on starting to glaze pots as soon as I recovered from travel. I have a large wholesale order to fire, a couple of plate sets that didn't fit in, last firing, and although the van is adequately stocked to start Saturday Market, I could use a little more depth in my back stock. In addition, I have a number of bowls to donate to Food For Lane County's annual Empty Bowls sale, happening the beginning of May.

Stand by for a whole bunch of photos.

To begin with here's a couple of one-day glazing challenges from this past week.

Last Thursday, I had 61 tall mugs to glaze. Did it, too.

Then on Sunday, I glazed 31 soup bowls, a couple of pasta bowls, 8 more plates, and a canister. Finished glazing Monday with 25 stew mugs.

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The road goes on forever

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 23:44:12 GMT

In the past week and a half, we've changed our bank account numbers three times; we've gotten and shredded two sets of debit cards, reordered checks twice. (Didn't even get to use the first set.) We've added verbal passwords for the call center--the last break-in was over the phone, trying to authorize a $6000 wire transfer.

Through it all, the credit union has been amazing. They've caught and stopped every incursion, helped us get new numbers, new cards, new username. I now have direct-dial numbers from two members of their fraud team, and am on a first-name basis with several of the folks at our local branch.

Meanwhile, my cell phone is finally locked down, after three SIM swaps, which means my email is also secured. Discovered a shortcut through the phone tree: say Fraud instead of Technical Support. Really hoping I won't need that information again soon.

First Tech, the Portland credit union where they started a fraudulent account, sent me a debit card Friday. Talked to them Monday and they assured me the account was frozen without any balance while they worked their investigation, so I could cut up the card and unsubscribe from their automated new-member emails. I put the pieces of the card in a bag of used cat litter, put the PIN number that came Monday there as well.

My credit card company caught them trying to add an Apple Pay to my account, went through it step-by-step removing the fraudulent transactions. I have a shiny new verbal password and security questions there.

I've opened a fraud investigation with CashApp after I started getting text notifications from them. Still have to look into another online lender to make sure the email I got from them isn't a sign of something worse.

I'm slowly reconstructing my online payments, though I'm afraid I may miss my April 1 Patreon payments. Will have to do KoFi, maybe.

This is so hard, y'all.

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Still fielding the q fallout

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 06:10:24 GMT

I missed a library reserve because they still have my q.com email. Fortunately, the book is still in, so went directly to Pending. I have a feeling I'll be finding these little land mines for a while to come.

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Repeat

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 06:07:05 GMT

My phone wasn't working again this morning; neither my email. Apparently, the thieves had been able to transfer the account to their phone again.

I was on the phone to Boost at 6 am. Went through their ridiculous phone tree three times--got cut off twice--and learned the magic words (Yes. [Phone number] Operator. No. Technical support.) to speed run getting to a human. Took four unsuccessful tries to verify my identity by photographing my driver's license to compare to a selfie video (system broke before taking the selfie every time). Finally got verified by verbal exam. (None of the above. [Former address] [Corporation associated with] Etc.) And talked to a human being. Who disconnected the thieves and blacklisted their phone. Also locked mine in; if I ever need to replace it, I'll need special dispensation. Tried to reconnect my phone, only to discover that the SIM that worked perfectly fine Sunday was suddenly incompatible with their system. I'd have to go back to Walmart for another, but they credited me another $25, so I'm in the black. And he bumped me up to a supervisor who opened a fraud ticket and took the whole story. She said she'd also be able to reconnect my phone by email once I sent her the new SIM number, but it hadn't happened by noon, so I ran the phone gamut again to get connected. Having the Fraud Ticket number helped, as she'd noted that I was verified in the file, so I didn't have to take the oral exam again.

Once my phone was back, I tried to access my email via "Forgot my password" and found they'd changed the recovery email and phone, so I spent another frustrating frustrating hour on chat with CenturlyLink. Sticking point was their need for my Account Number, which, since I get billed online, I didn't have record of. Finally found it in a three-year-old confirmation email, and was able to get a reset link and get my password back. I was also able to forward the recovery email they'd left behind to the fraud ticket, so hoping that does some good.

Still haven't gotten in to my online banking, though we picked up new debit cards and the list of new account numbers. Spent a good bit of the afternoon online, updating accounts for autopay and Square. Still have a few more to do that require me to log on to my bank account, but I'm beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Hoping it's not a train.

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Well, that explains things

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 03:26:33 GMT

So it turns out that three of my tech problems were related.

I've been hacked.

I'd gotten a suspicious phone call on my cell Monday, that I didn't recognize as suspicious until too late. Hung up, called my cell provider and they recommended I log in and change my password and pin, which I did--on my tablet, thankfully. Because in the time between when I foolishly read them my confirmation code and the time I changed my passwords, they managed to clone my phone. And then logged into my credit union account and add their phone number and address. Logged into my email and changed the password. And locked me out of my phone.

Fortunately, changing the SIM on the phone cut them out there. And OCCU, bless their hearts, saw all this suspicious activity and locked down my account. So while they were able to give themselves access, the account froze before they could do anything with it.

I spent a good bit of this morning on the phone with the credit union sorting things out. I'll keep my member number, but will get all new account numbers, will need a new username for my online banking, and will have to stop in with Denise--it's a joint account--to get new debit cards.

I called Denise with the "good" news, and just as I was saying goodbye, got a new call coming in from Beaverton. It was First Tech Federal Credit Union, calling to welcome me as a new account holder. So I immediately said No! It's identity theft! and spent the next half hour on the phone with them getting that account locked down. Don't know whose money they used to open the account; as far as I can tell, it wasn't mine.

But I froze my reports on the three credit sites, changed the password on my credit card, and ran my phone battery down to zero. Got home to an email from a high-end gaming equipment company, saying they were holding the $500 chair I'd looked at in my cart, if I wanted to complete the purchase. Hold it all you like, buddy. I ain't paying for it.

But at least I managed to glaze 19 pots before I had to run for the bus home.

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Technology hates me

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:40:10 GMT

I already blogged about the failure of my Garmin satnav in Wisconsin. Since I got back, things have only gotten worse.

Sometime on Friday, my cell phone failed. It still turned on, still got wifi, but the signal was abruptly worse, no bars inside the house, and even outside, it wouldn't make calls. Or texts. Or even connect for data. You've no idea how much you depend on that little box, until you can't.

And then there's my email. I usually access my email one of two ways. If I'm on my desktop, I'll download everything with a POP mail client (Eudora, don't laugh. It still works), to read, sort and archive offline. Other times, I'll preview on my tablet, using their web interface. I always click the "Keep logged in" button, and they always log me out again in about a day.

Well, this time, I couldn't log back in. I'd get a little red message, "error with login or password." I almost tried a password reset, but that required two-factor authentication, and my cell phone isn't working. I tried to log in to my account to be sure I'd paid the bill--grabbing at straws here--but I'm locked out there too. And CenturyLink's customer support is only on duty weekdays during business hours, and their chatbot is useless.

If that's not enough, on Saturday, my debit card failed. Trying to gas up the car at Costco, neither of my Oregon Community Credit Union cards would work. Fortunately, we have another account at a different institution, so I was able to get home. But on Sunday, when I tried to deposit a check at an automatic teller, it told me my card didn't support that transaction. And when I tried to log in to their web portal, it said my account was "disabled." And of course, no customer service on weekends.

I'm beginning to feel like that Twilight Zone character who'd died and didn't know it.

I had a little success, though. Testing my Garmin on a charger at home proved the unit itself kept a charge, though still not on the cord connected to the car. I do have a USB plug that fits a car 12 volt/cigarette lighter outlet, and tried running the (too short) proprietary cord from plug to satnav. It booted fine when I turned the car on, though had trouble finding satellites until Denise held it up above the dash. At which point, it was able to direct us to our concert down in South Eugene.

Then yesterday afternoon, it occurred to me to check whether my cell provider had support on weekends, and Hallelujah! Boost Mobile were open from 8 am til midnight seven days a week. Did the chat, and the bot ran me through some simple tests--take out the SIM card, restart the phone, and when that didn't work, connected me to a human. She confirmed the tests I'd done, then took a phone number to have tech support call me. (Oddly, couldn't call my landline. Fortunately, Denise's cell is on a different provider.) They called fairly promptly, heard my story, took info about my phone, and decided I needed to replace the SIM card. I could have them send one in 3-4 business days, or I could buy one locally. There are no longer any Boost stores in Eugene but Walmart sells SIM cards, and they put a $10 credit on my account.

Turned out to cost $11.13, rounded down to $11.10 because I paid cash--no debit card, remember?--and they didn't have any pennies in the till. And while I was at Delta Oaks, I dropped in to Goodwill's computer department. Couldn't find a replacement charger for the Garmin, but was able to score a USB extension cord that would allow me to stick my satnav to the windshield where God and the satellites intended, for $2.75 with the senior discount.

Got home, installed the SIM, had a brief panic attack when the phone booted up on T-Mobile. Tried calling 611 for set-up help, as instructed, on Denise's phone, but that went to Trac-Phone. So I called the Boost set-up number from their website, argued fruitlessly with the phone menu, hung up and called the customer support number, got the same dialog. I'm not sure how I finally got it to connect me with a human--I think by saying Technical support in increasingly impatient tones--but finally got a human, who took the SIM number, my phone ID, had me turn off the phone and remove and replace the SIM--I shouldn't have turned it on yet. She did arcane things on her end, and when she told me to turn on the phone again, it was working properly again.

Two down, two to go.

ETA: Email is back! Though I had to change the password. Will have to update my Eudora. Still waiting on a callback from the credit union.

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Comfort

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 22:52:56 GMT

I got home Tuesday night, finally, just before midnight. Denise picked me up at the airport, I drove home. (She really doesn't like driving in the dark.)

One last story from the trip.

Our 5:50 pm flight out of Milwaukee loaded a little late, but not too badly. Completely full flight, of course, making up for the previous day's cancellations. I was in seat 16B, next to the left wing; my neighbor in the window seat was a teenage girl who was a very fearful flyer. Are we supposed to feel vibrations? Yes, that's normal. Are the wings broken? No, those are flaps; they control the plane. What's happening now? We're taxiing to our runway--just driving along the ground. As we approached take-off, she asked, Do you mind if I hold your hand?

Not at all, I said. Would you like to borrow my bear?

We flew all the way to Denver with her right hand clutching my forearm, my hand over hers, and her left hand cradling Umberto.

Such a brave bear.

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