My yesterday didn’t begin well. For the first time ever, I had to abort my dog walk. By the time I got to the end of my street, less than 100 yards and slightly uphill, I was breathing hard. I didn’t feel like I could make it the rest of the way, so Swan took over and gave Buddy and Lucky their exercise. It did freak me out, though.
My agenda for the day included taking my new phone back to the Samsung store at the mall to see about getting it repaired. We walked to the highway without any issues (it’s all downhill) and caught a Jeepney to the Kalaklan gate at SBMA. From there, we walked the 1.5 kilometers to the SM Mall, again without a problem. I didn’t expect I’d be able to get the phone repaired at the store–it is manned by sales clerks, not technicians. Still, I almost laughed when the guy helping me held a small fan up to the charging port in a lame attempt to dry it out. I told him I had placed the phone in front of a fan for hours three days ago without success. He kept trying for a while but eventually called the repair facility in Pampanga and did the paperwork to send my phone there for a fix. So, my hopes that they would just replace the phone with a new one were dashed. They told me the repair process would take one or two weeks. Whatever. I had brought my old phone with me and had them change out the SIM cards so I could put it back in service until my new phone was ready.
We exited the mall and caught a cab for the trip back home. A few blocks later, Swan gets a call from the Samsung store. A late-arriving female employee had managed to fix the phone. So, we had the taxi driver turn around and take us back, and he agreed to wait for us while we retrieved my phone. I was very curious about what she had done to get the phone to accept the charger. She explained that I should leave the phone connected to the charge, despite the warning message to immediately unplug it, then turn the phone off using the button on the settings screen. Hmm. I wasn’t convinced that was a “real” fix, but the phone was taking the charge, so I shrugged, thanked her, and headed back to the taxi.
I had no problems with the phone or my breathing for the rest of the day. This morning, I was able to complete my regular dog walk route, with only some heavy breathing on the uphill portions.
Back home after completing the dog walk, I plugged my phone into the charger and guess what happened?
I used the method of shutting it off that the salesgirl had demonstrated, and it did work. I carried the phone on the longer candy walk this morning and had no problems when I plugged it in when we got back home. Still, I’m not comfortable having to do a Mickey Mouse fix whenever this happens. A $500 phone shouldn’t be such an inconvenience. Swan called the store and is going to take the phone back for a proper repair tomorrow.
Swan and I walked back into town a little after four. I had a 1500 peso voucher from the SOB to spend. The plan was to start at Alaska Club and go from there. I baked a batch of brownies to share with the Alaska crew. We arrived a few minutes before opening time, so we took a seat at Sloppy Joe’s for a drink while we waited. Our waitress, Vanessa, used to work on the Kokomo floater and she recognized my brownies container. I promised to bring her one after we did the cutting at Alaska. I drowned her disappointment with a lady drink before we departed.
Sitting outside at Sloppy’s, I saw all my regular Alaska servers heading into work. We followed them in shortly thereafter. What was weird was that my two favorites ignored us despite us being the only customers. Now, the gal who served us was fine and friendly and enjoyed her lady drinks. She also cut and distributed the brownies to the dancers and wait staff, so good on her. Owner Jerry greeted me and bought me a beer, so I felt very welcome. We left after an hour or so, and as we were leaving, the two who hadn’t even bothered to greet us came by our table. I asked what happened, and they said they were shy to sit with us and get drinks since we had brought them all a treat. There is a word in Tagalog for that–bola bola. It loosely translates to “bullshit.” Anyway, I wasn’t upset about it, just confused. As I noted to them both, they saved me money, but since they work for commissions, it wasn’t a good deal for them. Oh, well.
We went next door to Wet Spot to expend the remainder of my voucher coupon. Aine wasn’t working, but a friend of Swan’s was in town, and she came by to join us for a drink. Owner Daddy Dave has been hospitalized and the manager told me he had just been released that afternoon. That was good news, I was very worried we were going to lose one of the biggest icons in town, not to mention a great guy. Get well soon, Dave!
We ordered some takeout from Sit-n-Bull and called it a night.
In the news from back home, my first-born granddaughter Gracyn graduated from high school.
My pal Scott attended a birthday celebration yesterday and he sent me a picture of the cake:
Today’s YouTube video is a tour of the S&R store, the Philippines’ version of Costco. The nearest one is over an hour away, so I only go there every few months for those hard-to-find items.
I discovered a depiction of the hierarchy of humor:
Here, I’ll prove it to you:
Anyway, that’s enough of this nonsense for today. I’ve got the feeding at Hideaway to attend to and then the Arizona floating bar, assuming it remains open. Only one way to find out.
They told me the repair process would take one or two weeks.
Sorry to hear that. Since I live in Samsungland, there are Samsung offices all over Seoul. You enter the facility, find an electronic kiosk, click on the image relating to your issue/need/problem, and get a ticket with a number on it. When your number is called (wait time depends on the number of customers, but it’s normally not obnoxiously long), you go to the booth where a staffer will help you. I’ve had repairs done to my Samsung Galaxy twice or three times; the repair itself rarely takes more than 20-30 minutes. Nice to have the technician on site.
A few blocks later, Swan gets a call from the Samsung store. A late-arriving female employee had managed to fix the phone.
Well! Never send a man to do a woman’s job. Then again…
Still, I’m not comfortable having to do a Mickey Mouse fix whenever this happens. A $500 phone shouldn’t be such an inconvenience. Swan called the store and is going to take the phone back for a proper repair tomorrow.
Probably for the best. No ghetto, third-world fixes! And your warranty doesn’t allow you simply to get a replacement phone?
This morning, I was able to complete my regular [dog-walk] route, with only some heavy breathing on the uphill portions.
And you feel no urgency about seeing a doc or hitting the hospital right away? I mean, I can understand the stubbornness: when I had my incident, I didn’t want to be admitted into the hospital, and I felt pressured by the ER staff, my boss, and my coworker.
It does look tasty!
And what a pretty flower on top! I wonder what species that is. Hopefully not V. dentata.
As I suspected, my kind of laughs are at the bottom. I guess that makes them the foundation of humor.
I saw that meme resurface recently and remember slapping that one up on my blog a few years back, along with a snide comment about puns’ place in the hierarchy. You commented in response. I guess, with time and forgetfulness, it feels like a new discovery!
Please think about getting your symptoms checked out soon.
Yeah, not much is done smartly and efficiently here. It reminds me of the “no appointments, wait your turn” system for seeing most doctors. There is nothing to do but take a deep breath, relax, and accept the Filipino way.
I made the distinction about the female employee because she had been there when I purchased the phone and struck me as the smartest of the crew. And she did have a fix, such as it was. When the clerk was talking to the service center, it was all in Tagalog, but my impression was that unless the phone was unrepairable, it would not be replaced.
I’m doing my blood work in the morning. When I get the results, I will share them with Dr. Jo and discuss my current issues. We’ll see how the Hash goes today, but I feel like this is more respiratory than heart-related. If I feel like it is getting worse, I’ll expedite things.
Damn, I’d never heard of vagina dentata before! That bites! Reminds me of our high school slut nicknamed Sandpaper Sally. When it was my turn to lose my virginity, Sally was more than willing. But after a minute inside her, I had to stop because it hurt so bad–like sandpaper. Sally excused herself, went to the bathroom, and when she returned, she said, “Try now.” Oh, it was so good! I asked her what she had done and she replied, “I just picked the scabs and let the puss run.”
I’m not sure where that old joke fits on the hierarchy, but I expect it to be near the bottom. And yes, I had forgotten about your old post and my comment. That’s one thing about my Biden brain—everything is new again!
re: Sandpaper Sally
I’ve heard that one before! She wasn’t called by a nickname in the version I’d heard, and she was an ugly old woman. But there were scabs as well as pus.
re: humor hierarchy
Puns can be dumb, simple, and easy to reach for; those definitely ought to rank low in the hierarchy. But some puns are clever and require a bit of thinking to get right away. Saturated with meaning, such puns really ought to rank higher. And while I personally love slapstick more than irony, would you agree that slapstick ought to rank higher than irony on the chart? Hmmm. That in itself might be ironic. Metahumor.
Yeah, old joke. I normally tell it verbally, thereby avoiding misspellings like I did with “pus.” Although calling it “puss” does have a bit of a double-entendre feel.
I’m not being ironic when I say whatever makes me laugh is funny. I never metahumor I didn’t like. Okay, I guess puns just come naturally to me somehow. I’d say that I’m funny when you’re drunk, but you don’t drink…