Happy Saturday! We have enjoyed some milder temps this week, but March seems to be confused as to whether she wants to come in like a lion or a lamb. It’s nice today, but it’s going down to 16°f (-9°c) tonight and 11°f (-12°c) tomorrow night. I think that’s lion territory. I hope so. I’d rather March roll out and take winter with it, not offer winter a chance for a reprise. David and I are here at the bar, where we’ll enjoy an adult beverage and maybe something to eat. Of course, we’ll give Linda’s prompt a go.
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “mouse.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
SoCS by Linda G. Hill
If we were having a beer, you’d be wondering about something I said.
“Good afternoon my young friend. How are you today?”
“I’m fine, David. That question sounds a bit formal.”
“I hope I can get away with, would you two like your usual drinks? I’m not in the mood for formal.”
“The usual will do nicely, Curley. No need for formality, which is why I’m wondering about David’s remark.”
“I was concerned that you might be, you know, slipping.”
“Slipping? Like on the ice? Most of the ice has melted from the parking lot.”
“No. Slipping as in mental. Losing control of your faculties. Coming up a few cards short of a full deck. Losing ones…”
“Marbles. I get it. As far as I know, I have all my marbles and I’m playing with the same full deck I’ve always had. What drove you to that conclusion?”
“I read that you made two trips to Costco this week. I mean, who does that? Did you eat your way through the giant back of popcorn? Drink all the water? If you went back for more paper products, I don’t want to know.”
“Here you go, boys. A John Howell’s Special for the inquisitor and a cold Modelo draft for the interrogatee.”
“Thanks, Curely. Don’t worry, I even remember that it’s David’s week to buy. Sorry about your tip.”
“Cheers, David. There’s a logical, simple and, if I might add, intelligent reason for the two trips to Costco.”
“Pray tell.”
“I needed a new laptop. Costco had one on sale, but I wasn’t sure if it was a good unit, or if it was, in fact, a good price.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t look all that up on your phone.”
“I prefer the human touch. Besides, I wasn’t sure what to look for.”
“You weren’t sure? Didn’t you spend a few decades buying that stuff?”
“I did, but I haven’t bought a laptop for a long time.”
“You’ve only been retired for five years. That’s not that long.”
“Wrong, for two reasons. One, five years isn’t a long span if one is buying a hammer; laptops change quickly. Two, I wasn’t buying laptops when I was working. I had turned that over to a coworker years before I retired.”
“So, you went home, called and bothered him.”
“I did. He was very helpful but I don’t think it was much of a bother. He loves that stuff.”
“I take it you went back the next day to buy the laptop. Couldn’t wait to get your hands on that new unit.”
“Actually, it was only on sale for two more days.”
“Do you like it? Is it an Apple laptop or Windows.”
“Windows.”
“What brand, as if it matters.”
“Do I detect a hint of Apple-snobbery?”
“You do.”
“The laptop is a Lenovo, the company that took over the ThinkPad brand. It’s what we always bought at work, and it remains my preferred brand.”
“Is it a ‘Home’ device or a ‘Pro’ — see, that’s what I hate about Windows, you have to make that choice.”
“It came with Windows 11 Home edition, but I upgraded to Pro.”
“Don’t want to mingle with the unwashed?”
“The Home edition is fine, but I do use a feature on our home network that requires Pro.”
“I’ll take your word for that, please don’t explain. Have you installed all your software, transferred all your files and all that drudgery?”
“My files are all in the Cloud. Most of the software I use is subscription based, so I just had to login and install the applications. I still have a couple applications I have to install, but everything I use all the time is up and running.”
“Lenovo, do they still have the nubby thing in the middle of the keyboard instead of a mouse?”
“Not on this model. I never used it, or the TrackPad or a mouse. I’ve always used a trackball.”
“Did Costco offer a warranty plan?”
“They did, but I didn’t buy it.”
“Why not? I thought you liked those.”
“I do. I mean you can’t hardly fix these things yourself anymore. Costco gave me one year and offered a three-year plan from Allstate for ninety-nine dollars.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
“Yes, but after I registered the laptop, Lenovo offered to add thirty-five months to the basic warranty for seventy-eight dollars.”
“Well done, my boy. You know that twenty-one dollars you saved would just buy us a pizza to snack on.”
“I’ll let you have that honor, David.”
All five of my current books are now available in audio book form thanks to Amazon KDP’s Virtual Voice process. The voice is AI generated, but I can honestly say, it’s pretty darn good. The audio books are reasonably priced (all below $7 US) and, if you already own the Kindle version and want to add an audio version, you can do that for $1.99. There is a five-minute sample on the book page for each book. If you’re interested, click on any of the Dreamer’s Alliance book links below the image or on the link below for my latest book.
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