Renting an International Phone

As discussed in the previous post, I decided to rent a phone while I am in Germany and Switzerland and avoid outrageous charges from my U.S. carrier. My PlanetFone arrived today as promised. Delivered by UPS, the package includes a return envelope for me to send the phone back once I get back home.

Planetfone

what you get

I took one look at the case the phone came in and thought, holy crap - where am I going to put this now? My suitcase is jam packed and my carry on is already quite heavy. Oh my... Contained in the case with the phone is the power cord, adapters for both Germany and Switzerland and a plug for a car. That, at least, is staying behind as I will have no need for it. There is also a brief instruction card that hopefully contains enough information that I can receive and make calls. They have their phone number programmed in, so if I get in a bind I can always call them. Maybe. The phone is pretty basic, but that is fine for my purposes. I don't intend to use it for anything other than the occasional phone call. Assuming that wifi is available and I will be able to blog, I will post on how the phone is working on my travels. Just one more day!

cell phone

On the Eve of Christmas Eve

For some reason this year I had all my shopping and wrapping done early. I need to make one last stop at the grocery store tomorrow morning to pick up the meat for Christmas Eve dinner. I am going to go early so that I don't turn into a grouch. In fact, I think hubby and I are going to go workout at 7 a.m. and then hit the store right after. Andy and Megan are due to arrive around 12:30, and I still have to tidy up the guest bedroom and bath. But that shouldn't take me too long.

We picked Katie up at the airport Sunday night. The place was fairly quiet at 9:00 at night. Since we had arrived a little early we walked through the airport looking at the improvements. Nearly all the glass has been replaced from the tornado, though we were surprised to still see a few windows boarded up. What's up with that? The new waiting area for those picking up passengers from the D concourse is quite nice, as are the two new luggage carousels. I think all of those are being replaced eventually.

It has been great to have Katie home. Being able to connect with her via phone and Skype was great, but nothing beats being able to talk to your kids face to face. She is still a bit jet-lagged, but we managed to get some things accomplished this week. Most notably today we dealt with US Cellular. We had just purchased Katie a new phone that would work in China right before she left in August. Unfortunately it was stolen while she was there. US Cellular gave me the bad news that there was an issue with the $100 rebate, and also the insurance on the phone. They told me they would not replace this (expensive) phone. We had Katie buy a cheap phone in China so she could keep in touch with the other students, her teachers and her internship supervisor. I decided to wait until she came home to deal with US Cellular again. We worked with the store manager today and she immediately took care of both of the issues. She gave me the $100 credit, which has been applied to my bill, and gave Katie a replacement phone. Woo, hoo! I did not anticipate such a great outcome. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

The Key to a Lasting Marriage

We have had to do a bit of maintenance with the cars lately. My car and Katie's needed oil changes, and we had to replace the front tires on the car Katie drives. I always just wait for the car to be finished instead of trying to work around Jim's schedule for dropping the car off and then taking me back to get it. Last week our work pickup needed new tires as well. Jim needed to pick up a donor plaque for a project he is working on (which looks like a huge table in the bed of the pickup truck, I might add), so he wanted to get the tires done before that occurred. On Friday I followed him to the tire shop, drove him to work and headed home to get some work done. He was going to have someone from work take him to pick the truck up later that morning. Well, that didn't work out, so back I went to take him to get the truck.

This morning he headed out early to meet with his motorcycle gang as they are in the final planning phase of their week long ride to Wisconsin that takes place in a couple of weeks. I was still snuggled in bed enjoying my book when the phone rang. Never good news early on a Saturday. It was Jim, and the key had broken off as he was locking his gas tank. As this key also is used in the ignition, this was a big problem. Not only had he forgotten to take his backup key along, he had forgotten his phone as well. The station attendant was nice enough to let Jim borrow his cell phone to call me. And Jim was lucky that I had not started applying the color to my hair or I wouldn't have answered the phone.

Anyway, I found his cell phone and called wife #3 (I'm wife #1, his business partner Ted is #2 and his favorite riding partner Jim Diaz is #3), to explain that Jim would be late, went to the garage and found the backup key, slapped a ball cap on my head and took off for the Phillips gas station. Before I arrived there a sweet older couple from Arizona heard Jim discussing his problem with the attendant. They asked him if he needed some needle nose pliers. They proceeded to go to their motor home and return with three sets of pliers for him to try. He successfully removed the broken piece from the tank, so with me bringing the backup key to him, he was good to go.

Love means never whining when your Saturday plans are disrupted by your spouse - that is the key to a happy marriage. Now I'm off to wash the gray, if not the man, right out of my hair.