Stand By Each Other

... regardless of the different ways that people choose to cope with pain and sorrow, we need to stand by each other as we work through difficult, tragic times. (Alexandra Stoddard, The Art of the Possible, p. 193)

Yesterday I was outside working in the yard for several hours. The grass almost got ahead of me. I got lucky with my electric trimmer. One of them had enough cord left in the case to allow me to do all the trimming. At the end I loaded the yellow trimmer to get it ready for next time.

I spent some time in the afternoon getting some help from AOL using Instant Messenger. I want to make sure Cyndi and I understand the implications of changing to "free" AOL service now that we both have high-speed Internet connections. I was able to print out the conversation for further review. I even sent an Email copy to Cyndi. Apparently the only thing we will give up is "help" from AOL. I've seldom asked AOL for any help in the thirteen years we have been using the service. I estimate we have spent about $3,275 during that time.

My AOL mailbox was full. Once the thousand message limit is reached you can't receive anymore mail. Tom, one of my correspondents sent me an Email to let me know a message he sent had bounced. I moved groups of older messages from AOL to the Personal File Cabinet on my own computer. I brought the count of messages in my AOL mailbox down to 500 before I got bored with the process.

This morning there was a death notice and an obituary in The Washington Post for Robert L. Costenbader, 75, who died on April 26, 2009. Robert was a head of the Microform Reading Room at The Library of Congress. He belonged to the stamp club but seldom attended our meetings because he usually worked the noontime shift. I always enjoyed visiting with Bob whenever our paths crossed.

Last night, after 6:00 p.m., I called to find out whether I would have to report for county jury duty today. I won the "Jury Duty Raffle." My group number was excused. This means I'm excused for the rest of the year. Because my 70th birthday is May 7th it really means I am excused from jury duty the rest of my life. Since I've "been there, and done that" I couldn't be happier.

Mr. Dickie