Friday, September 29, 2023

minty start of autumn

 

It's just a week into autumn and the temperatures have shifted by ten degrees.
We now have low 80's for the highs and low 60's for the pre-dawn time.
I rather miss the hum of the fan at night, but cold feet are not my thing.
(smile!)
 
One of the best things about the chill in the air?
I don't have to use matches to light the stove anymore.
See, during the over-90 days, the air in the attic gets so hot that the fan up there turns itself on, pumping all that heat straight into the house!!!
Ack!
The only way to shut the attic fan off is to pull out the fuse in the electric panel.
Good that I have those fuses labeled, right?
But here's something crazy: that fuse also controls the electrical outlet for the stove.
Since the piezoelectric igniters are electric, I have to use matches every time I want to cook anything or heat something up.
That's not really an issue, as I have teapots full of matchbooks collected over the decades.
Sure, the strike pads on those matchbooks have gotten damp from humidity so often that they don't really work.
Not that I haven't struck upon a work around for that, but it does slow me down.
Not anymore!
And there's a bonus: the light on the stove works, too, as does the clock!
Hooray!
So, happy autumn to me!
(smile!)
 

Oh, one more thing that's special for me today: it's my first mintiversary!
That's right!
It's already been a year since I chose Ryan Reynolds' company over T-Mobile, the one I'd been with continuously since October of 2007.
That means I was with them for 14 years, with never once an anniversary email.
I rather like getting that mintiversary email today!
I realize that the two companies reached some kind of merger in March, but I trust that Mr. Reynolds will continue to take care of me in his touchy-feely, minty fresh, way.
I like that.
For instance, only mint has ever told me how many minutes I talk on the phone.
Apparently, I'm "rather chatty" as I did that for 3,531 minutes from 09-28-22 to 09-28-23.
That's almost 300 minutes per month, y'all!
Far more than I'd thought, that's for sure!
Here's another number mint tracked for that year: 8,010 text messages.
Yowzah!!!
No wonder mint admitted to being "a little jealous" of that.
And, while I do text far more than I call, I also send a crazy amount of photos through the ether and those all count as emails, too.
Well, they also count as data, contributing to the 1.8 GB I've used of that.
To put that into perspective, lest someone think I've relented to using my Alcatel as a smart phone, I'm allotted 5 GB for data monthly.
Over the course of a year, that would be an allowance of 60 GB... and I used 1.8, which is just 3% of what I was granted.
Good for me!
Thanks, mint, for that refreshing outtake!
(smile!)

Oh, speaking of places reviewing my year with them, kiva sent me an email today, too!
My anniversary - kivaversary? - month with them starts in July.
For the time between 07-01-22 to 06-30-23, I made 6 loans, of $25 each, to either individuals or groups in other countries.
Here's the truly amazing part: those loans cost me nothing.
That's because I'm recycling the funds repaid to me from those who benefited from previous loans over the 11 years that I have been Fliss, Nerdfighter.
Moreover, the $24.25 that I have "donated" to kiva for loan processing fees has all been monies recouped from paid past loans.
What a grand cycle of giving, enabling those who have received loans to pay it forward!
As it happens, I've had sufficient funds for another loan for about a month.
Maybe I will find one this weekend to honor my stepmom, Bonnie, for her birthday...
yes, I do believe she would like that.
(smile!)

Now, time to get ready for National Silent Movie Day!
That's news to you?
Truth to tell, it was news to me, too.
But my favorite venue of all time, the Lucas Theatre, is celebrating that very thing tonight.
With its mighty Wurlitzer restored and gleaming, and Ron Carter stroking its keys and tapping its pedals, the Lucas presents "Safety Last!", a film that's now a century old!!!
How 'bout that?
I'm quite excited!!!
(smile!)

2 comments:

faustina said...

43.
That's the total number of loans I've made on Kiva.

The total money that I've paid into kiva is $280.25, enough to have made 11 loans.
Those eleven loans, plus others, have been repaid, allowing me to share that money again with folks trying to enrich the loves of their community, as well as make a better life for their families.
This is, by far, one of the best uses of my money.
i thank You, God.

faustina said...

What's that about "the more things change, the more they stay the same"?
MINT has completed their merger with T-Mobile, so I'm back to being with that service, technically.
Ryan Reynolds, though, has assured me that things will continue on as they have been, meaning I'll see no changes in my costs, nor in my service.
We'll see.