The Calendar is a Liar

I am standing in a Rossman store, like a drugstore without drugs, trying to remember what motivated me to enter to begin with. I know I had something in mind when I walked through the door. My mobile phone rings. Unknown caller. "Hi, do you have a room available?" is what I am greeted with. Instead of saying "How did you get this number, I respond instinctively with how many nights?" Phone reservation request, autopilot response system, but then my surrounding come out of the fog and I realize none of this matters. The calendar is home and I am not. I ask him to call me back at 4:00 so I can continue to peruse the aisles to jog my memory of what I needed and then run to buy bread. At 3:50, in front of the elevator door in our building, the mobile signals a call. "Yes, hi, I called you about a room." I would have placed money on the fact I would never hear from him again and would have lost. "Okay, listen, I am standing at the elevator and need to get upstairs, unlock the door, throw the bags somewhere and run to the calendar. Give me five minutes." The guy must not have a working watch. He gave me three, but I was faster. "Okay, when did you need the room for?" "Tonight and for two more nights." "Sorry, I am full tonight, but I can give the room for the 23rd and 24th." "But I need it for the 22nd and 23rd." "Today's the 22nd and I am full." "No, today is the 21st." As I am sitting at my computer desk with the Google calendar in front of me and my Page-A-Day Booklovers Calendar sitting to the right of my mouse, I keep seeing the 22nd, so I insist it is the 22nd. In the background of the call, I hear a heavily accented voice saying today is the 21st. "Look, I am staring at two calendars and both of them say that today is the 22nd." "Well I am at the TourInform office and the man here says today is Thursday, May 21st." My mind jumbles as it has another meltdown. Why is he calling me from the TourInform office. Did they suggest us or did he wander in needing a phone. As I stare at the Google calendar on the monitor, reality sets in that looking at a full month calendar expecting it to tell you the day is like looking up a word in a dictionary that you have no clue how to spell. Someone at Google must have had this experience once. The curreent day is colored yellow, but for my instistance, I am colorblind. Finally, I concede the day. Ron has only been gone 30 hours? I could sworn it has been two weeks already. No wonder I have not heard from him yet. "Okay, you can have the room for Friday and Saturday night, but you have to come over early. I have an acupuncture appointment in the morning." "I can be there by 9:30." "I have to leave here by 9:30." "Well, I guess I can set my alarm and be there by 9:00." He was ready to end the conversation with this person whose reality seemed to be in the Twilight Zone, but I insisted on giving him the address. He mispronounced the name of the street three times. I wonder if he will ever show tomorrow.

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Comment from H. Clay

A comment left for my February 26th post on the Pomegranate phone reminded me: The source: http://www.novascotialife.com

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Ring-a ding-a ling

After doing copious amounts of research for the phone of my dreams and finding that the pomegranate phone in the video below is not available yet, or perhaps in my lifetime, I settled. It was a toss up between a Nokia N96 and a Samsung i850. The Nokia won out after reading dozens of comments on the Samsung forums, where people complained that SMS would not work after about two months. It is a shame though, the phone has a camera with more pixels than my Minolta Dimage 7i, which was the top of the class when I bought it; well perhaps for that one day only. Not being able to browse the Hungarian web pages, I asked my private language student to aid me in finding a store to purchase the phone. He chose that option instead of a lesson and insisted on driving me there too. The two guys working in the store spoke bits of English. If I had had the pomegranate, it could have translated for me, but then again, I would not be there for a phone either. The salesmanship was above and beyond most of my experiences in Hungary. They really went out of their way to be helpful, allowing me to play with the phone. It has a one year guarantee and a second year for another 100 Euros. I almost opted for the second year, but realized that in a years time, I would be wanting to move on to something newer and spiffier if this should die on me. My relationships with technology do not last long. I am a fickle lover in that regard. Here today and gone tomorrow when a new pretty gadget passes by and captures my attention. This phone has too many bells and whistles to list. If you are curious, here is the web site. http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-n96/specifications So far, I know how to turn it on, but I have yet to make a call. Gosh, do I really need to read the instructions?

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The Communiqués of R to the 2nd Power 10

Okay, really there is no good news, well that is not really true either. I took that e-mail you sent about being kinder and massaging me upon request, had it blown up to poster size and it is plastered on the bedroom wall. Smaller copies are super glued around the apartment for ready reference and within pointing distance. The message from Vodafone was that we were late with our payment and had one day to pay it or the mobile service would be shut off. To turn it back on would involve a penalty. I had to prove I made the payment through Citibank because Citibank takes up to 3 days to transfer the money to Vodafone. Since I cannot use the printer, I had to make a picture of the Citibank payment, put it on a removable disk and then take it to the Internet Café to be printed. After it was printed, I had to have it faxed to Vodafone. They would not do it via e-mail, which would have made my life easier. That done, Balazs and I went for a walk. His foot is bothering him so he wanted a beer. I could not handle a beer without falling asleep within seconds. We went to Spinozas. He downed 4 tall beers and I two coffees. We were there for over 3 ½ hours. I had just gotten home at 6:00 when my phone went off and it was Ben. He was in the neighborhood and wanted to drop off DVDs. He just returned from Poland. He showed up at 6:45 and stayed to talk until 9:45. THEN I was able to get something to eat at 10:15, but was too tired, so ate cold cuts that the guests won't eat since they are vegetarians.

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