2023 Bermuda Cruise - Afterword (Debarkation and Going Home)

 

Given that our cell phones' clocks didn't reset themselves to NYC time while on the ship, our alarms woke us up at 5:00 am instead of the 6:00 am as planned.  This meant that both of us would be tired by mid day and ready to take a nap when we got home.

Around 6:00 am, we went down to the dining room for one last meal on the ship.  Then, we hung out in the dining room waiting to go off the ship to retrieve our luggage, go through customs, and go on our way home.  And this is where some minor confusion occurred.  I mentioned to RQS that I saw our luggage and was going to retrieve our bags.  RQS didn't hear me, and I couldn't find her when I fetched the bags.  About 10 minutes later, I gave up and proceeded past customs and out to the street.  Unfortunately, RQS didn't have her phone set to connect to the outside world, and she couldn't see my messages or hear the phone ring.  Eventually, she got my call and saw my messages, and met me outside the customs area.  Luckily, we communicate well with each other, and assume that we are thinking of each other's needs when we have our minor screw-ups.  Problems like what we encountered today could trigger the resentments that would cause a relationship to break up.  Thankfully, RQS assumed the best from me (and I from her), allowing us to forget about this incident and move on to a relaxing trip home.

Going home was easier than I thought it would be,  Usually, the cabs at the cruise terminal try to only accept passengers going to the airports.  However, there was a TLC (Taxi and Limousine Commission) officer patrolling the cab stand, and we had no problems hailing our ride to Grand Central.  Once there, we tried to use the ADA Accessible entrance on Vanderbilt Avenue and found that it was closed on weekends.  Not knowing this, we wasted time there before proceeding to the entrance/exit ramp on 42nd street.  And then we waited a bit before taking the train home, where we spent the afternoon napping.

It was an exhausting day, and we were glad to be home.  Hopefully, our next trip together will be with me in Marian mode....

If you knew sushi, like I know sushi....

There is an old song that goes:

"If you knew Suzie,
 Like I know Suzie,
 Oh, Oh, Oh, What a gal..."

I rework that in my head, replacing "Suzie" with "Sushi", whenever I go out for sushi.  Today was one of those days I did just that.

- - - - - -

But first....

As has been happening lately, I didn't go to sleep when I wanted last night.  Knowing that I'd have a hard time waking up in time for lunch, I set multiple alarms on multiple devices to ensure that I'd be able to get ready and meet my friend with minimal delays. After showering, shaving, and making up my face, I decided to put my earrings in.  With q tolerable "struggle", I was able to do so without much effort.  This is important, as I don't want to go back to the piercing shop a third time.

At noon, I drove into Croton to meet my friend from the census.  We try to meet at least once each month to catch up on things, and today, we met at a sushi joint in town. The conversation flowed like water.  All too soon, it was time to go home - and none too soon, as I had GI Tract issues.  When done, I drove to Target to buy a bathroom / shower shelf, so that all my bath needs could be in an easy to reach place.

And then, it was time to go home.  I got on Route 133, and less than a mile from the Saw Mill River parkway was the site of a multi car accident blocking the road.  Instead of waiting for things to clear up, I drove back to the Saw Mill parkway, taking a wide detour to get home.  Given that it is raining as I write this, I'm going to close out this entry because I doubt anything more of consideration will happen tonight.

Just another brick in the wall....

 

Have you ever had your phone turn into a brick?  I have, and it's not fun.

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I have been looking at new cell phones for a while, and have been dickering about whether I should buy a new one or not.  Well, that decision was made for me at 3:30 this morning.  My phone changed from being something useful to being a brick.

You might be asking, "How did I know that the phone was a brick?"  I wasn't sure at first myself.  When I woke up this morning, I thought it was 3:30 am based on the display of my phone.  When I looked at my watch, it said 6:45.  I thought that the watch was set poorly until I looked at the cable box. Then it dawned on me - the phone got stuck, and my alarms didn't ring.

At this point, I made the decision NOT to go to work and called in sick when I knew I wouldn't be waking up my boss.  And then, I tried to reboot the phone.  No luck.  I now had the first boot screen flashing on the display, with the phone boot up process stuck in an endless loop.  Now it was time to try a factory reset.  I couldn't even do that.  My phone was officially a brick!

- - - - - -

Now that my phone was now a worthless piece of electronic waste, I knew that this was going to be a Mario Mode day.  I would need to present myself as Mario, just in case my legal identity needed to be verified.  And I didn't want any headaches from people serving me today.  So off went the idea of putting on a tunic and leggings, and on went the idea of wearing a long sleeved shirt and trousers. And off I went to Best Buy to see what phones they had in stock.

In chatting with the salesperson at Best Buy, he had a slight preference for Samsung phones over Motorola, noting that he had heard of this type of Bricking Problem before.  Yet, he recognized that the Motorola phones provided excellent value and run close to stock Android.  Given that I wanted as much memory as possible AND wanted a phone I knew would be upgraded to Android 12, I chose the Motorola phone.  If he had more negative things to say about Motorola, I'd have gone with Samsung and dealt with their needless Android skin mods and their dumb Bixby button.

- - - - - -

When I finally got home, I started the process of taking the SIM and Micro SD card out of the old phone and installing them in the new phone.  Although I have a wealth of SIM removal pins, I didn't have one as long as needed to eject the new phone's card tray.  I was very lucky to make sure that I saved all materials for the phone, as I found this pin and used it.  After that, the restoration of apps to the new phone was easy.  Everything had been backed up, and all I had to do was log on to my Google account and start the process of reloading apps from the Google Play store.

As much as I like the new phone, it still seems a little foreign to me.  Until I have a new case that isn't that slippery, I'll have to be very careful when the phone is out of my purse or my pocket.