Map Quest

Have you used the Map Quest the driving direction? Map Quest provides interactive maps and directions for cities and towns worldwide. Also provides road trip planner, addresses, and phone number finder. You type your home address as starting location in boxes at left and ending location address in boxes at right. You can print them and take them with you where ever you go. Its been very helpful. We have been using the Map Quest very often since we moved to Plano, Texas in 2005 like going to places like doctor, dentist, HR Block, resturants, Deaf Coffee at Starbucks, job applicant locations, churches and new friends homes, etc.

We had collected up to an inch pile of the printed Map Quests by placing them on the floor behind the driver's seat in our car when we lived in Plano in case we needed to use them again. I threw them away when we moved to Fort Worth in May of last year and have been collecting another inch of printed maps. I will get a new folder to hold the maps someday. I put the jack stands on them for weight so the wind wouldn't blow them away when we open both doors at same time. We use the business office address in one of the town for the map because our address/ home subdivision is not available in the Map Quest.

My Sidekick II with T-Mobile

My very first pager Motorola talkabout 900 I used for 3 years starting in the Summer of 2001.

It was very handy when I was stranded at one of the airports after landing during the 9/11 Attack.
I will write about it in a next post.

My second pager Blackberry 7730

I had a Blackberry 7730 pager for over two years before my husband Dick gave me his Sidekick II when he received his new Blackberry 8700 in June of last year because he liked his old Blackberry 7230 pager he used before he bought a new Sidekick II (SK II). I like my SK II better because I was able to surf into internet when I'm away from our computer or when the DSL internet is down that had happened for 3 weeks in around Christmas time like checking my email account and online bank, etc without having to go to the library or bank or when they are closed. I was able to check my online bank right away at the fitness center when I was told by the manager that my membership had been cancelled because the monthly electronic payment had been denied with no reason and after making the confirmation from the bank checking account we had to set it up again to get my membership re-activated. I had downloaded the i711 relay service in my SK II so I could call anyone when I'm away from our TTY or computer ( we use i711 in our computer mostly than TTY). I had used it often for two weeks while we waited for our new phone line being hooked up in our new house after moving in. I had called my doctor via the i711 relay service in my pager from the pharmacy when I was denied to have my drug refilled. I will stick with my SK II.

Cancel AOL Account

How hard is it to cancel AOL. By one of the deaf bloggers we know. He said "This is perfect example-it it totally unneccessary to have hard time closing your account. He remembered he had similar problem when he called some place like Comcast or T-Mobile. They can be unbelieveable sometime.

This is ridiculous. He hoped AOL and others will wake up and do it right thing next time! Read the article at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13447232 .

I gave my comment",

I had a hard time getting my AOL account cancelled when my husband and I lived in Washington state. They had refused to do it when I called telling them to cancel my account. So I called our bank telling them that I "lost" my debt card and wanted them to change the account numbers right away which they did. My AOL account had been cancelled after not recieving the electronic payment from our checking account. TOO BAD to AOL!!!!

I found an editoral letter being sent from someone in a Spokane newspaper saying that he found out that the AOL company was based in India when he called one of the representatives.

Black Friday Nov 2006

I was asked by one of the deaf bloggers if we heard about the Black Friday. He said according to the Wikipedia,
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, is historically one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year. Many consider it the "official" beginning to the holiday season. Most retailers will open very early and usually provide massive discounts on their products.

Although Black Friday is typically the busiest shopping day of the year in terms of customer traffic, it is not typically the day with the sales volume. That is usually either Christmas Eve, the last Saturday before Christmas.

I gave my comment;

Yeah, I know what the Black Friday is. Its interesting to watch some people fighting over some stuff they wanted, like the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" toy action figures in around 1989 when my 2 boys were little. I had seen some empty shelves at the store just 15 minutes after the doors were open. The video games at discount prices were also popular.
In 1999 I noticed the Target ad on Thanksgiving Day saying that they were giving away the free regular "Hot Wheels" die cast toy cars to first 1000 people. I was a collector at that time. When I went there at 5:00 A.M. the next day expecting to see a long line of people outside the store, but it was much longer (not compared to some recent Sony Playstion 3 longest lines) so instead I went to another store that opened an hour earlier to find out some electronic stuff I wanted had been sold out. I returned to Target afterward there was the last half of the line of people outside and I went ahead to get into the line. I ended up receiving an unusual "Hot Wheels" neon red Mustang Mach that was later valued at $35.00 according to a 2004 Hot Wheels Price Guide book. Some guys who saw it asked me if I wanted to trade it and I said no, thanks. They looked disappointed. I still have it in a blister pack.

We would go to any store like Best Buy, Target, or Circuit City at 5:00 A.M. on Black Friday and watch the people in a long line rush into the store when it opens like the horses with riders race down the hill called "Stampede & Suicide Race" that occurs annually in Washington state.

Pumba Swallowed A Dime. May 2006

Our cat, Pumba loves to play with a plastic strap we take off from the milk jug before removing the cap. She carries it in her mouth to another room and very often she drops it into her cat food bowl and large water bowl she shares with our dog, Kelly and finds another one on the floor. We find 3-4 straps in her bowl.

She carries everything in her mouth.
We make sure there is NO coin or small object on the floor or any surface since she had swallowed a dime in May of last year and the vet had to tear up her belly to get it out that cost us $500.00 including the blood test and xrays. Of course we had to use a plastic card!! How we found it out? She was vomiting after each meal for 3 days so we had to take her to the vet to have the xrays taken. When we picked her up the next day, the vet gave us the dime he took out from her intestine. We didn't realized that she had dark spots on her shaved belly (see picture below) and she looked so cute. She often sleeps with her back on surfaces.